US Vice President JD Vance expressed confidence that Israel will eventually join the agreement with Iran. This statement came during a Monday night interview with CBS News when he was asked about Israel’s participation in the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (Mo U).
“What we know,” he stated, “is that this agreement is going to make Israel safer, going to make the entire region safer. We feel quite confident that the Israelis are going to be brought in on this agreement once we get a little further down the road.”
He also noted that it’s normal for close allies to have differing views.
Uranium stockpile at center of deal
“We want them [Iran] to behave like a normal country,” Vance remarked, explaining that if Tehran follows through on what’s outlined in the Mo U-such as giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium, halting funding for terrorist groups, and making itself more appealing for investment-then “benefits will float to them.”
Vance mentioned that the primary focus for the US is on the enriched uranium, which would be destroyed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US according to the Mo U.
“We want them to have a successful country, but only if they do what’s necessary to commit long-term to not building a nuclear weapon,” Vance added.
Vance rejects Obama comparison
During an interview clip shown by CBS, former President Barack Obama was heard stating that any new agreement between the US and Iran wouldn’t be “significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal we had worked on for a long stretch of time.”
US President Barack Obama delivers a statement on Iran at the White House in Washington, January 17, 2016. (credit: REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIA)
In response, Vance said Obama’s statements are “fundamentally not right.”
“If you go back to the Obama JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), what it did was it took an Iranian nuclear program that it accelerated. It basically bribed the Iranians to stop that program.
The JCPOA was an Obama-led multilateral agreement involving Iran and other countries including the US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear development.
Vance argued that Trump’s administration operates from a different standpoint. “The Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed. What we’re saying is: make long-term commitments not to rebuild it and you’ll receive benefits from doing so.”
The vice president also pointed out how Gulf States have felt threatened by Iran’s regime for 47 years and “hated the JCPOA because they believed it empowered Iran as a bad regional actor.”
The same nations called Trump’s plan “amazing because it transforms the Middle East into being more peaceful and prosperous,” claimed Vance.
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