Vice President JD Vance talks US-Iran agreement

We are back now with Vice President J.D. Vance to discuss the latest ceasefire agreement in the war with Iran. Mr. Vice President, thank you for joining us this morning. You know, back on March 6th, about a week into the war, President Trump put out a post on Truth Social saying there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. So why did he reverse course and agree to this deal now? Well, George, I don't think he reversed course. I think fundamentally the president's argument was we are going to use the military to exert pressure on Iran, and we're going to get something that is good for the American people, and now we have that. And just to recap where we are, George, Iran's nuclear program is completely destroyed. What this deal fundamentally does is it reopens the Straits of Hormuz. You see oil prices have already come down substantially just in the last 24 hours. But it also simultaneously provides a two-path option for the Iranians. On the one hand, if they continue to try to rebuild their nuclear program, this deal ensures they will never have the resources in order to do that. On the other hand, if the Iranians are willing to give a long-term commitment along with proper verification to giving up that nuclear weapon, we're willing to welcome them into the world economy to lift some sanctions and to turn over a new leaf in that relationship. What the president really wanted to do, not just with the last six weeks, but really the last year and a half of Iran policy, is to get us to a place where we could change our relationship fundamentally with Iranians and ensure that they never have a nuclear weapon. We feel that we're at that place now. We're, of course, going to continue to verify that, continue to negotiate and talk to the Iranians. But this is a big day for the American people, a big win for everybody who cares about basic peace and stability in the Middle East. Even some of the president's closest allies are raising questions, though, about the agreement. Lindsey Graham, the senator from South Carolina, said, I'm somewhat concerned that Iran's view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming right now. There do seem to be some significant differences between what we're seeing in the Iranian media. They say they're going to be seeing a release of assets as the agreement was signed. They're not going to sign the agreement unless those assets are released. Is that true? No, George, it's not true. And I'd caution Lindsey Graham and anybody else not to believe the hardliner propaganda in Iran, but to believe what's actually in the agreement. But we'll be releasing the text this week. And what everybody will see is that Iran doesn't get a dime of money unless they perform their obligations. And the money that we're talking about is fundamentally sanctions relief. We're not giving them American money. Not a single dollar of American money will go to Iran. But what we are saying, George, is we're willing to give significant sanctions relief if the Iranians make the kind of long-term commitments that are necessary to be a normal country, to give up their nuclear weapons program, to stop funding terrorist activities all over the Middle East. And one of the really interesting things, George, you hear people compare this negatively or positively to the JCPOA of the Obama administration. There are all of these ways I could explain that this deal is fundamentally better for the American people than the JCPOA. But the fundamental difference is that the Gulf Coast Coalition, our Arab partners in the region, they hated the JCPOA because they felt that it emboldened Iran to be a bad actor. They love this deal because they feel that it's going to create a totally new dynamic in the Middle East. That's a great testament to what the president and the entire team has accomplished. Again, we've got to verify here, George, this is not going to be a short-term solution. This is going to require a lot of engagement and diplomacy. But if the Iranians meet us, I think this is going to be a totally new direction for them, for the United States, and for the whole region. Just to be clear, the Iranians signed this deal on Friday. They will not be receiving any sanctions relief, not receive any assets upon signing of this deal? Well, we already signed the deal digitally yesterday, and there's been no money released, and that won't change, George. Again, this is a performance-based thing. If we see the Iranians making, for example, taking action to eliminate their stockpile of enriched material, then yes, sanctions relief will follow. If we see the Iranians taking action to allow the kind of verification regime that we need to see to know that they're not going to build a nuclear weapon, yes, sanctions relief will follow. So this is really about walking down a pathway here where the Iranians will be welcomed into the world economy if they do the right thing. And George, we have to remember, their economy is fundamentally destroyed. Their nuclear program is fundamentally destroyed. If they don't do the right things, if they don't allow the verification regime, they're never going to have the money to rebuild their nuclear program to begin with. So this is fundamentally a win-win for the American people. What the president has said is he wants it to be a win for the Iranian people as well, but that requires some real trust-building and some real positive conduct from the Iranian political system. We're going to see if that happens. If it does, they're absolutely going to find the president of the United States and the entire team a willing partner to make their country more prosperous. You mentioned the support of the Gulf states. This is not being welcomed in Israel right now. The national security minister for the government says this is not binding on the Israeli government. The defense minister of Israel says they are not going to pull troops out of Lebanon. Could that complicate the deal? Well, George, everything's going to complicate the deal. As you know, in this region of the world, even a ceasefire, sometimes they're a little bit dirty. It goes from shooting a lot to shooting a little to shooting not at all. But what we fundamentally believe is that this is going to be a good deal for the people of Israel, for the people of the America, and again, potentially for the people of Iran as well. There's a lot of misreporting. I've seen this in the Israeli media about what's actually in the deal. I think when the people of the region see what's in the deal and see the kind of commitments the president of the United States is making, they're going to see this is good for everybody. Peace and prosperity is good for everybody. That's true for Israel. It's true for Saudi Arabia and UAE and Qatar. That's the kind of deal that we're striking. Yeah, it's going to require some engagement. Yes, you're going to have people within the Israeli system who are skeptical from time to time. That's the work of diplomacy, and we're going to keep on doing it, George. Mr. Vice President, thank you for your time this morning.