Vice President JD Vance Breaks Down Trump's Iran Peace Deal

[0:00] Vice President J.D. Vance of the great state of Ohio. Mr. Vice President thanks so much [0:04] for joining us. I know that you're planning on releasing the text later at the end of the week [0:09] after some of the some of the smaller issues have been reached and worked out. I do want to ask a [0:15] couple things about it though. Does this deal at all address Iran's ballistic missile programs or [0:21] Iran's funding of groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorists such as Hamas or Hezbollah [0:26] or the Houthis? Well it does Jake because what the agreement does is fundamentally set up a [0:32] structure whereby if the Iranians behave like a normal country then we want to treat them like [0:37] a normal country and welcome them into the world economy. What paragraph one of the agreement says [0:42] is effectively that Iran commits itself just as the United States commits itself to regional peace [0:47] and stability and part of that Jake is that the Iranians have to stop funding violent terrorist [0:52] organizations. They have to stop funding regional instability. But the important thing about this [0:57] agreement Jake is that everything from what Iran gives us on the nuclear program and of course [1:01] that's the most important thing is the commitment verifiable to never building a nuclear weapon. [1:06] All of these things come along with benefits if Iran delivers and nothing if Iran doesn't deliver. So [1:13] we certainly expect that as part of our broader agreement Jake Iran is going to stop funding [1:18] terrorist organizations. Most importantly they're going to have a verifiable commitment to not building a [1:23] nuclear weapon. But the good thing about the way that we've set this up is that we have the leverage [1:27] here. We have the ability to welcome them into the world economy if they perform. We also have the ability [1:33] to say you know what you don't get anything if you don't meet your end of the obligation. [1:37] Is it fair to say that it's not spelled out that they have to end their ballistic missile program or end [1:44] their funding of the Houthis and Hamas and Hezbollah that that's left purposefully vague and then the U.S. [1:51] will come later and say you know that we expected this and you're not behaving accordingly. I'm just [1:57] trying to understand how the deal is written. Yeah so the MOU Jake is about a page and a half so it is a [2:05] very general document but this has been very much part of the conversations that we've had with the [2:10] Iranians and on a number of issues we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical [2:15] negotiation phase. But what the MOU does is set up a framework whereby the Iranians get the benefits of [2:22] the bargain by meeting their obligations under the bargain. They know that we don't want them to fund [2:27] terrorist organizations. They know that we don't want them to be a source of instability in the region and of course most [2:33] importantly they know that we want a verifiable long-term commitment to not build or procure a nuclear weapon. [2:39] We have that in this agreement Jake but fundamentally it's set up in such a way where we're going to have to attach their commitments to [2:47] deliverables that then are met with economic benefits for the Iranian people. That's the way that we've structured it. [2:53] One final just comment on this Jake if I could step back. Right now the Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed. [3:01] Their capacity to enrich uranium, their enriched stockpile of fuel is buried far below the earth and we really have a two-way [3:08] pathway to ensure the Iranians don't ever rebuild that capacity. On the one hand if they try to rebuild it they're never going to get the financial [3:17] resources that they would need to rebuild a billions of dollars worth of nuclear program. On the other hand if they're willing to commit to [3:24] verifiable milestones and to make sure that we feel confident they're not going to rebuild that program. It's we're going to totally [3:32] transform our relationship with Iran and Iran's relationship with the broader Middle East. So either way the United States wins. Either way we ensure Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon. But we really prefer that they choose the option where there's greater economic [3:35] cooperation and where they behave like a normal country and are treated like one as well. [3:42] You have said that the U.S. is willing to talk about unfreezing Iranian assets if the Iranians meet those benchmarks you've been discussing. Iran says that this deal unfreezes billions of dollars over 60 days of [3:50] negotiations and that many of the funds will be unfrozen before talks even begin. Is that true? What does the MOU specifically say about unfreezing assets or sanctions relief? [3:57] Yes so Jake on the second point that's definitely not true. There hasn't been a single dollar of sanctions relief or unfrozen assets either from the United States or any of our allies in the Gulf. I've seen some misreporting [4:03] things that I've seen some misreporting things that the Iranians meet the Iranians meet those benchmarks you've been discussing. Iran says that this deal unfreezes billions of dollars over 60 days of negotiations and that many of the funds will be unfrozen before talks even begin. Is that true? What does the MOU specifically say about unfreezing assets or sanctions relief? [4:15] Yeah so Jake on the second point that's definitely not true. There hasn't been a single dollar of sanctions relief or unfrozen assets either from the United States or any of our allies in the Gulf. I've seen some misreporting about that. I don't know where it comes from. Where I suspect that it comes from Jake is is what you're going to expect is that certain elements within the Iranian system certain hardliners in particular they're going to overemphasize in an effort to sell it to certain domestic populations they're going to overemphasize what Iran gets from the [4:46] bargain without ever articulating the things that Iran has to give up in order to get those benefits. To be very clear this agreement contemplates a very significant sanctions relief package for the Iranian people that transforms how they interact with the world and with the region. But they only get that benefit if they meet their obligations under the agreement. So I would caution everybody to be skeptical of what certain propaganda elements within the regime are saying. The truth is [5:16] there is there is a really big opportunity for Iranians but they only get the benefit of that opportunity if they do the things they promise they're going to do. If Iran was able to essentially hold the world hostage in some ways by closing the Strait of Hormuz even after the U.S. and Israel decimated Iran militarily why should we not expect that they will do the same thing again when they are allowed to reconstitute their military? Well a couple of things there Jake. First of all while Iran did try very [5:48] hard to close the Strait of Hormuz and they cut down traffic substantially. One of the things that we've seen over the last two to three weeks Jake is that there has been a substantial increase in oil and gas flows out of that region of the world under the protection of the U.S. military. So one of the reasons why I think actually they made this agreement. I don't think they'll ever say this but one of the reasons why they made this agreement is because they recognize they're losing that leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. [6:18] You can't play it every day indefinitely or you start to lose it and I think they saw that that leverage point was getting weaker and weaker which is why we've been able to strike this agreement. Fundamentally Jake the way to think about this is the United States has optionality here. Have we destroyed their military? Yes. Have we decimated their nuclear program? Yes. Is the country economically much weaker than they were before the conflict began? Yes. [6:48] Option one is they stay under extraordinary economic sanction which means they're never going to be able to rebuild their military and never going to be able to reconstitute their nuclear program. Or they show us verifiably. They allow the inspections regime to say with confidence that they're not going to rebuild that nuclear program. And if they do that it's going to transform the entire region. Jake for 47 years. This country has been a thorn in our side. [7:18] I think in the last few weeks since the military and the last few years since the United States have seen a lot of Republican administrations. The coolest thing about the progress we've made over the last few weeks is that you see people within the Iranian system senior leadership even IRGC officials say you know what we may have some animosity we may have some mistrust but we recognize the way that we've done business with the United States for 47 years is a mistake. Let's try something else. We're going to verify that of course but we're certainly certainly willing to try something else if they comply. The um there are obviously a lot of critics of this deal. [7:48] from within the republican party a lot of conservatives who are critical and i think if [7:54] one of them were here right now they might say this is still the same group of religious extremists [7:59] of zealots who are willing to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of iranians who are [8:04] demonstrating for democracy who fund terrorist groups and even if they want to end this war [8:10] you still can't trust them and they still are i mean this is again not my characterization but [8:15] the characterization of plenty of people in the republican party there's still a fanatical death [8:19] cult how would you respond to that well i'd say two things about that jake first of all i don't trust [8:25] anybody um i think that fundamentally the way the president has set up this deal is that the benefits [8:31] of the bargain only accrue again if iran actually complies we're not talking about rewarding words [8:37] we're talking about changing the way that we deal with iran based on their actions and number two [8:43] fundamentally it is a much different group of people the president united states has said this [8:47] before but let me just let me just give some detail to that if you think of like the last 47 years of [8:54] american relations with iran we have never had this level of direct or indirect coordination we've never [9:00] had this level of direct communication between the highest levels of their society and the highest [9:05] levels of our political leadership so something has fundamentally transformed can i say with a hundred [9:11] percent certainty that they're going to meet every obligation to this bargain no of course not [9:15] because i can't predict the future what i can say is that we've structured this deal in such a way [9:20] where their benefits only accrue if our benefits accrue as well vice president jd vance thanks so much [9:26] really appreciate your time