Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that President Donald Trump “has earned some trust on” the issue of Iran’s uranium enrichment, and that Trump would only use the U.S. military in the interests of the American people.
Vance took to X, ahead of Trump announcing the U.S. knows exactly where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is located, to address “a lot of crazy stuff on social media” regarding Iran.
Vance emphasized Trump’s firm stance over the past decade that Iran cannot achieve a nuclear weapon, and Trump’s attempts at making a deal over recent months with Iran to reach that goal:
First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent, over 10 years, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Over the last few months, he encouraged his foreign policy team to reach a deal with the Iranians to accomplish this goal. The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways–the easy way or the “other” way.
Trump was adamant that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons even before he entered the political realm. For instance, in 2011, he tweeted that the United States “can’t allow Iran to go nuclear.”
Vance, who has also long said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, made the distinction between a civil nuclear power program and uranium enrichment, writing that Iran has reached enrichment levels that exceed civilian purposes:
Second, I’ve seen a lot of confusion over the issue of “civilian nuclear power” and “uranium enrichment.” These are distinct issues. Iran could have civilian nuclear power without enrichment, but Iran rejected that. Meanwhile, they’ve enriched uranium far above the level necessary for any civilian purpose. They’ve been found in violation of their non-proliferation obligations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is hardly a rightwing organization.
It’s one thing to want civilian nuclear energy. It’s another thing to demand sophisticated enrichment capacity. And it’s still another to cling to enrichment while simultaneously violating basic non-proliferation obligations and enriching right to the point of weapons-grade uranium.
I have yet to see a single good argument for why Iran needed to enrich uranium well above the threshold for civilian use. I’ve yet to see a single good argument for why Iran was justified in violating its non-proliferation obligations. I’ve yet to see a single good pushback against the IAEA’s findings.
Vance said Trump may decide to take action to bring Iranian enrichment to an end and noted he “has earned some trust on the issue.”
He wrote:
Meanwhile, the president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens.
He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president. And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy.
But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people’s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus.
Soon after Vance’s post, Trump touted, “We have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” and that the United States had Khamenei’s location.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote.
“UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” he added in a third post.
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