Former Vice President Mike Pence said the United States needs to “finish the fight” in its “brilliant campaign” against Iran.
The U.S. and Iran began a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, over a month after Operation Epic Fury began in late February. Pence, who served with President Donald Trump in his first term, gave his former boss “all the credit in the world” for Operation Midnight Hammer last year and “finally” taking direct action against Tehran and taking “the fight to them.”
“I also, I have to tell you, I couldn’t be more proud of the armed forces of the United States in cooperation with Israel, we have literally decimated the military capabilities of Iran,” Pence said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends Thursday.
“It’s been a brilliant campaign, Operation Epic Fury. Every American should be proud, and I think it sets the conditions now, where the president has been willing to initiate a ceasefire to look for negotiations to bring a diplomatic end.”
Pence said his view is to “finish the job,” saying the U.S. and its allies need to return to “the military solution” if a diplomatic solution can’t be reached. He also said this is “a historic moment” to secure peace in both the region and the world.
“Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and taking the fight directly to the mullahs, decimating their ability to project force, has made America and the free world safer,” Pence said.
This is not the first time Pence has praised Trump’s foreign policy this year. The former vice president said Trump took “historic action to end the socialist tyranny” of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in January, and said, “Libertad will be restored for the Venezuelan people.”
HOW IRAN HAS CHANGED FROM THE START OF THE WAR UNTIL THE CEASEFIRE
Vice President JD Vance is set to lead peace talks with Iran in Pakistan this Saturday, where he will be joined by U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Vance described the ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran as a “fragile truce.”
The Iran war has had many effects in the U.S. Indiana is the latest state to address skyrocketing gas prices since Operation Epic Fury began, suspending the state’s 7% gas tax to provide financial relief.