Iran threatened with 'Option B' as Trump warns of 'big hit' if deal isn't reached
Topics: Iran, JD Vance, Donald Trump
William Morgan
Featured Image Credit: Heather Diehl/Getty Images
Topics: Iran, JD Vance, Donald Trump
The Iranian regime are being threatened with a brutal 'Option B' if they don't agree to the US' peace terms soon, Vice President JD Vance revealed yesterday, adding that American soldiers are 'locked and loaded'.
His comments were actually a step back from the brink that Donald Trump appeared to be stepping towards, with the president admitting on Monday that he had been just 'an hour away' from approving fresh airstrikes on the country.
The fragile ceasefire that has held for the past six weeks, roughly half the time that the US has spent at war with Iran, looked to be teetering on a knife edge on Monday, with President Trump saying he will 'give them another big hit' if they don't cave.
"They better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of them," he wrote on Truth Social. "TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!" And at a special press call hosted by the vice president, even the previous 'forever wars' critic, Vance, appeared to share his boss' frustration with the stalled talks.
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Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz has brought the global economy to the brink of collapse (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
The vice president even appeared to promote 'domino theory' when asked about the the negotiations on Tuesday, saying that the US could deploy 'Option B' if it looks like Iran is going to acquire a nuclear missile.
That is, as Vance explained himself, the president will 'restart the military campaign' against Iran that he started 82 days ago, which he said presented the Middle Eastern nation with a 'simple proposition'.
He explained that, in the administration's view, Iran getting a nuclear weapon would cause a large number of countries to 'scramble' into a nuclear arms race, making everyone 'less safe'. No nuclear experts believe that Iran was close to having anywhere near enough enriched uranium to create a bomb, having roughly half a tonne of the radioactive material enriched to roughly 60 percent. 90 percent is needed for weapons.
But just as with the 'domino theory' of southeast Asia that set America on its futile warpath in Vietnam, Vance argued: “Iran would really be the first domino in what would set off a nuclear arms race all over the world."
.@VP JD Vance update on Iran: "The president has asked us, has told us to aggressively negotiate with the Iranians...option B is that we can restart the military campaign." pic.twitter.com/AjPHODtmL5
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 19, 2026
While both Trump and Vance spent most of Tuesday sharing this maximalist position in public, it was also clear that the White House is willing to 'cut a deal' with the leadership in Tehran, if they can agree to their red lines on nuclear materials.
"We are not going to have a deal that allows the Iranians to have a nuclear weapon, so as the president just told me, we are locked and loaded. We don’t want to go down that pathway but the president is willing and able to if we have to," Vance said.
He added that they are 'willing to cut a deal so long as the Iranians are willing to meet us on that core issue of never having a nuclear weapon'.
Tentative signs that the past six weeks of negotiations and breakdowns in communication are finally leading towards some conclusion to the almost three-month conflict began to emerge later that day.
A small number of Asian fuel tankers were able to make it through the Strait of Hormuz unharmed, which will induce a sigh of relief across the region, which is the main destination for fuel travelling through the Persian Gulf.