By Gloria Ogbonna
Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration’s military strikes on Iran during an appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, insisting that the attacks had effectively crippled Iran’s nuclear capabilities even if a final diplomatic agreement is never reached.
Speaking with host Bill Maher, Vance argued that the primary objective of the U.S. operation was to eliminate Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, which he claimed had already been achieved. According to the vice president, the destruction of the country’s uranium enrichment infrastructure means Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been “functionally destroyed.”
“If we don’t make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed, they’re still much weaker as a country,” Vance said, emphasizing that negotiations are now focused on ensuring Iran is pushed back even further.
Maher challenged that assessment, questioning whether there was enough evidence to conclude that Iran’s nuclear program had truly been eliminated.
“But their program isn’t destroyed,” Maher responded. “The nuclear program isn’t destroyed.”
Vance immediately pushed back, asking, “What part is not destroyed?”
Maher pointed to previous discussions about the need for inspectors to access nuclear sites and collect environmental samples to verify the extent of the damage.
“The whole thing was we have to get in there and see,” Maher said. “Otherwise, why were we saying we needed to get the dust?”
Vance acknowledged that he is “hardly a nuclear scientist,” but maintained that the key component of any nuclear weapons program is the ability to enrich uranium using operational centrifuges.
“The thing that you have to destroy is their ability to enrich uranium, which has been destroyed,” he said. “You need functioning centrifuges that can actually spin.”
When Maher pressed him on how the administration could be certain without complete inspections, Vance explained that the issue of verifying Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is separate from dismantling its production capability.
According to Vance, Iran accumulated its enriched uranium stockpile over two decades under multiple previous administrations. While he acknowledged that recovering or securing that material remains a priority for President Donald Trump, he argued that it poses little immediate threat if Iran no longer has the facilities needed to convert it into a nuclear weapon.
“There’s the highly enriched stockpile, which, by the way, was allowed to accumulate over 20 years of previous administrations,” Vance said. “That enriched stockpile is something that we want to get. The president wants it, and we are going to get it.”
He added that even if the United States never gains access to the stockpile, it is believed to be buried deep underground and cannot be weaponized without the enrichment infrastructure that has already been destroyed.
“If we never got it, it’s buried deep underground, and they don’t have the ability to turn it into a nuclear weapon,” Vance said. “So the program is functionally destroyed. We’re just talking about whether we can set them back even further through these negotiations.”
The exchange highlighted the continuing debate over the effectiveness of recent U.S. military operations against Iran’s nuclear facilities. While administration officials argue the strikes have significantly weakened Iran’s nuclear ambitions, critics continue to question whether enough independent verification exists to confirm the full extent of the damage.
Source Breitbart
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