Washington is positioned to secure a long-term agreement with Iran that addresses the nuclear issue, even as negotiations between the two sides remain stalled over key disputes, US vice president JD Vance has said.
His remarks came as diplomatic efforts between the United States and Iran continue to face hurdles over several contentious issues, including limits on Iran’s nuclear programme, monitoring of movement through the Strait of Hormuz, and the lifting of US sanctions. Track live updates here
“Right now, I feel that we are in a position to get a deal that is good for the United States economically and that really does deal with the Iranian nuclear problem, not just now, not just while Donald Trump is President, but for the long term,” Vance said. “To where my kids can say, when they are adults, Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. That’s the goal,” he added.
Negotiations have also been complicated by demands related to unfreezing Iranian assets and concerns over Tehran’s regional proxy groups.
After weeks of saying that a breakthrough was within reach, US President Donald Trump took an aggressive stance on Wednesday. Tensions escalated on Tuesday when US forces hit targets inside Iran after blaming Tehran for downing an Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz overnight. Trump has since indicated that strikes remain possible.
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“I may keep going,” the US president told Fox News on Wednesday. “They had a chance to sign a deal and survive.”
Iran responded to the strikes by launching missiles toward bases hosting US forces in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
Trump also accused Iran of deliberately stalling negotiations. He told Fox News that Iran was “tapping the US along” with talks that have not led to a long-term agreement. He renewed his threat to bomb the country’s power plants and bridges.
Earlier in the day, he also wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iran had been “completely defeated”. “They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price,” Trump said.
Iranian officials, though, have maintained that any agreement must respect what they describe as the country’s sovereign “rights”.
Trump says US wants ‘meaningful’ deal
After saying his administration would be attacking Iran “very hard”, the US president has asked Iranian leaders to sign a deal.
“They should sign the deal, it’s a good deal,” Trump told reporters, saying the proposal on the table prohibits Iran from “ever having a nuclear weapon”. “We want a deal that’s meaningful, we want a deal that works.
“We’ll see what happens, but we hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them again hard today… And we’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to the deal but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers.”
ALSO READ | ‘Bibi, you better be careful’: Trump warned Netanyahu over strikes on Iran
‘We’re going to be attacking’: Trump threatens Iran again
“We’re going to be attacking them, and attacking them very hard,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after being asked to clarify his earlier remarks where he said Iran would have to “pay the price” for delaying a deal.
He was then asked whether this implied restarting bombing Iran. “Yeah, well, based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that,” he replied.
Trump has accused Iran of shooting down a US Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.
