WASHINGTON - U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that the United States and Iran have made substantial progress in their talks and that neither party wants to see fighting resume.
At a White House briefing, Vance summarized the current state of negotiations: "We think that we’ve made a lot of progress. We think the Iranians want to make a deal," he told reporters. He said he had just spoken with Trump, who emphasized that Washington's core demand is that Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon.
Vance explained the rationale behind that position: if Iran were to acquire a nuclear weapon, other states in the Gulf would seek their own, and that proliferation could then spread more broadly. "We want to keep the number of countries that have nuclear weapons small, and that’s why Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," he said.
According to Vance, the United States is looking for an arrangement with Iran that would include a mechanism to ensure Tehran would not rebuild nuclear weapons capacity in subsequent years. "That’s what we’re trying to accomplish in negotiations," he said, characterizing the U.S. objective as preventing both immediate and longer-term nuclear weaponization.
Vance also linked the diplomatic push to broader regional and economic concerns. He noted that Trump has faced pressure to reach an agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz - a key route for global supplies of oil and other commodities. Trump has previously signaled optimism that a deal might be near and has also warned he could resume military strikes on Iran if no agreement were reached.
When questioned about whether Russia might take possession of Iran’s enriched uranium as part of any arrangement, Vance responded directly: "That is not currently the plan of the United States government. The Iranians have not raised it."
The vice president’s comments underscore the two-fold nature of the talks as described by U.S. officials: an immediate aim to avert renewed hostilities and a strategic goal to prevent the emergence or re-emergence of an Iranian nuclear weapons capability. Vance framed the negotiations as seeking both a near-term de-escalation and longer-term safeguards.
Details on any specific concessions, timelines, or verification steps were not provided in the briefing. Questions about the mechanics of verification and whether third parties would be involved in handling nuclear material remain open, as Vance noted no current plan for foreign custody of enriched uranium and said Iran has not proposed such an option.
As talks progress, the administration appears focused on balancing diplomatic engagement aimed at reopening crucial shipping lanes with a firm statement that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons now or in the future.