Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The President of the United States JD Vance has been defending the memorandum of understanding to end the US-Israel war with Iran, in response to criticism of the agreement by members of the Democratic Party and Republicans who oppose it.
But speaking in an interview with The New York Times published on Thursday, the day after US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Pezeshkian signed the MoU, Vance kept some of his criticisms of Israel, whose leaders have been pushing Washington to continue the war.
Recommended Articles
list of things 3end of series
Vance also spoke of opposition to the deal by Israeli officials, including right-wing ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“And I think my answer to them would be: What do you really want? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t solve every national security problem you have,” he said.
He asked Israel to allow negotiations to take place, and to “give credit to the United States of America, which I think has been a wonderful friend of the Israeli government for a long time”.
His remarks were the latest example of the Trump administration taking a hard line – without hypocrisy – on Israel, whose ongoing military operation in southern Lebanon has repeatedly threatened to derail the long-standing ceasefire agreement with Iran.
In recent days, Trump has criticized the law against Israel, which warlords have long said is killing civilians, as he seeks to rein in its war with Hezbollah.
“A lot of people have been killed,” Trump said at the G7 summit in France.
“You don’t always have to demolish buildings when you want someone, because there are many people in these buildings, and not all of them belong to Hezbollah,” he said.
Vance says success
Speaking at a subsequent press conference on Thursday, Vance continued to defend the MoU with Iran, which opens the Strait of Hormuz, lifting the US military blockade of Iranian ports and promising to end hostilities on all sides, including in Lebanon.
Several top Democrats — and a few Republicans — have said the initial deal appears to favor Tehran, saying the war did not yield concessions that could not have been made in previous rounds of negotiations.
Vance also said that, although several problems have not been resolved, the Trump administration’s war has brought positive conditions to the US. These include degrading Iran’s nuclear capability, restoring Iran’s civilian forces and weakening Iran’s economy, he said.
The vice president framed the battle as a victory, regardless of whether the upcoming negotiations, which he said could begin by the end of the week, were successful.
“If the Iranian people do not change their behavior, their military and their nuclear weapons are still being destroyed. If they change their behavior, then they will have a changing relationship with the Middle East, and the Middle East will have a changing relationship with the Iranian people,” he said.
“It is a victory for the American people and for the President of the United States, no matter what path the Iranians choose.”
Unanswered questions
The deal includes recent sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, and pledges from the US and its allies to set up a $300bn reconstruction fund, negotiate an economic recovery for Iran and lift all remaining sanctions.
The first agreement also includes a commitment that Iran will reduce its stockpile of highly enriched uranium “in place”, but leaves questions about the future of Iran’s nuclear program unanswered, leaving the issue for 60 days of negotiations.
Vance said he is confident that Iran will allow changes to its nuclear program, and agree to a monitoring regime if Washington allows sanctions and a freeze.
The agreement does not cover Iran’s weapons program or support for proxies in the region, the main issues of Israel and Iran hawks in the US.
Vance said he hoped the talks would produce an agreement to prevent Iran from developing “the kind of weapons that could threaten the entire world”. However, as Trump did on Wednesday, the vice president backtracked on the administration’s pledge to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons.
“You can’t tell a country, whether it’s Israel or Iran, they’re not allowed to defend themselves,” he said.
The agreement also does not include provisions regarding the future management of the Strait of Hormuz or prohibiting Iran from paying reparations.
Vance said any future agreement would be about “ensuring that the crisis is not used again as an excuse for global financial chaos”.
