In a recent interview, Vice President JD Vance framed the nuclear negotiations positively, stating:
“Without prejudging the negotiations, I will say so far so good. We’ve been very happy by how the Iranians have responded to some of the points that we made. We’ve been very happy with some of the intermediaries and some of the folks who are in the room, the role that they play. The Omanis in particular have played a very positive role, we’re very grateful to that. So, so far we’re on the right pathway, but this is going to end somewhere. And it will end either in Iran eliminating their nuclear program — their nuclear weapons program —, they can still have civil nuclear power, we don’t mind that. But let me ask this basic question: which regime in the world has civil nuclear power and enrichment without having a nuclear weapon? And the answer is no one.* No one right now has a civil nuclear program with their entire enrichment infrastructure that can enrich to the 90 plus percent needed to get to fissile material and a nuclear weapon. So our proposition is very simple — yes, we don’t care if people want nuclear power, we’re fine with that, but you can’t have the kind of enrichment program that allows you to get to a nuclear weapon and that’s where we draw the line.”
* Editor’s note: this is not factual. Other non-nuclear weapons states, including The Netherlands,
Brazil and Japan, retain domestic enrichment capabilities without possessing or pursuing nuclear weapons.
Vice President Vance stated later in the same interview that “We think that there is a deal here that would really integrate Iran into the global economy, that would be really good for the Iranian people, but would result in the complete cessation of any chance that they get a nuclear weapon — that’s what we’re negotiating towards.”