Vance: Trump to not allow US to enter multiyear conflict over Iran

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that President Donald Trump would not allow the United States to become entangled in a prolonged conflict without a defined objective, stressing that preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon remains the administration’s central goal.

In an interview with Fox News, Vance said, “there's no way Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multiyear conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective.”

He said the president has clearly defined that objective as ensuring that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and must commit long term to never trying to rebuild a nuclear capability.

Vance added that even some international organisations that usually do not agree with the United States were very clear that Iran's only purpose in building underground highly enriched facilities was to build a nuclear weapon.

“Even some international organizations that usually don't agree with the United States were very clear that Iran's only purpose in building these under ground highly enriched facilities was to build a nuclear weapon,” he said.

According to Vance, Trump had been seeking a long-term commitment from Tehran that it would never build a nuclear weapon or pursue the ability to be on the brink of one. After months — nearly a year — of what he described as painstaking diplomacy, the president determined he did not want to merely keep the country safe from an Iranian nuclear weapon for the first three or four years of his second term.

“He wanted to make sure that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said, adding that such an outcome would require fundamentally a change in mindset from the Iranian regime.

Vance said Trump assessed that the Iranian regime was weakened and remained committed to getting on the brink of a nuclear weapon.

“He decided to take action because he felt that was necessary in order to protect the nation's security,” Vance said.

By Sabina Mammadli