US is at war with Iran’s nuclear program, not Iran - Vance
US Vice President J.D. Vance said that the United States is not at war with Iran, but with Tehran's nuclear program.
According to Censor.NET, he said this in an interview on NBC News.
Vance was asked whether the United States is currently at war with Iran after the attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities, to which he replied: "We are not at war with Iran. We are at war with Iran's nuclear program."
At the same time, he refused to confirm with 100% certainty that Iran's nuclear facilities had been completely destroyed, saying that he believed the United States had "significantly slowed" Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons.
"I'm not going to get into the details of the intelligence about what we saw on the ground in Iran, but we saw a lot, and I'm confident that we have significantly slowed their development of nuclear weapons, and that was the purpose of this strike," Vance said.
It is worth recalling that on Saturday night, US President Donald Trump said that the nuclear facilities were "completely and utterly destroyed," but on Sunday, a member of the Iranian parliament said that Fordo was not seriously damaged during the strike. The publication notes that it cannot independently verify any of these statements.
According to Vance, a few hours after the strike, the United States received "some indirect messages from the Iranians."
As to whether the United States would react if Iran blocked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which is an important sea route, Vance said that such a move would be "suicidal" for Iran.
"Their entire economy runs through the Strait of Hormuz. If they want to destroy their own economy and cause disruption in the world, I think that would be their decision. But why would they do that, I don't think it makes any sense," Vance emphasized.
The vice president noted that the United States wants peace with Iran "as long as they don't have a nuclear weapons program." He argued that the United States has not "destroyed" diplomacy and accused Iran of not giving diplomacy a "real chance."
"The Iranians are clearly not very good at fighting. Maybe they should follow President Trump's lead and give peace a chance. If they are serious, I guarantee you that the US president is too," Vance added.
As a reminder, the United States has successfully attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized that the United States' strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities could lead to an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the United States had destroyed Iran's nuclear program by striking Iran's nuclear facilities on the night of June 22.
