JD Vance argues America 'wins' with or without an Iran nuclear deal during Bill Maher interview
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
JD Vance has laid out why the US 'wins' in negotiations with Iran regardless of whether a nuclear deal is reached.
A brittle ceasefire between the US and Iran continues after the US and Israel launched an extensive bombing campaign, targeting Iranian infrastructure as well as cities.
The Islamic Republic responded with rocket and drone attacks and by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large proportion of the world's oil shipments have to pass, with oil prices spiking as a result of the blockade.
Now, negotiations are ongoing between the US and Iran over peace terms, but there are still several major points of contention for both parties.
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Perhaps the largest of these is Iran's nuclear program, with Donald Trump repeatedly making clear he does not want to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, while the country's ballistic missile program is also an important point.
The blockade on the strait is also a important, with the US wanting to ensure the smooth flow of oil shipments and stabilize the global markets, but now JD Vance has claimed that regardless of the outcome on these issues, the US still 'wins'.
Appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher, Vance said: “If we don’t make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed, they’re still much weaker as a country."
He added: “So my attitude is America wins either way."
The Vice President went on to say that Trump's administration is offering Iran 'an opportunity to fundamentally transform how they behave with the West.'
“If they’re willing to change, we’re willing to change, too,” he said. “If they’re not willing to change, we still fundamentally have all the cards. I think it’s a good place for us to be.”
Iran's government has been fiercely opposed to the US for decades after the fall of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's US-aligned dictatorship in 1979.
Several factions jostled for power during the 1979 Revolution, but that of hardline Shia cleric Ruhollah Khomeini ultimately won out and has been in power since, enacting extreme conservative social policies in Iran, in particular towards women and girls, as well as operating and backing proxies in neighbouring countries Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
Vance has attended a number of meetings with Iran, with representatives from Qatar and Pakistan mediating the negotiations.
Pakistan has previously interceded in the conflict, securing a ceasefire after Trump made a chilling threat that 'a whole civilisation will die tonight' if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Vance said: “What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran, and to extend an outstretched hand that says to the people of Iran that if your leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability."