Vice President JD Vance warned that the recently negotiated two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran was a “fragile truce,” while speaking in Hungary.
“The United States agreed to stop attacking, and that not just the United States, but also our allies, have agreed to stop attacking, and that is the basis of this fragile truce that we have, which is now eight to 12 hours old,” Vance said in Budapest at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, Hungary’s largest educational institution.
President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire Tuesday evening ahead of an 8 p.m. deadline that would have triggered heavy attacks on Tehran, he had warned, if no deal had been reached. Trump said he received a new 10-point proposal from Iran, which he characterized as a “workable basis” for the two countries to continue negotiations.
US AND IRAN AGREE TO TWO-WEEK CEASEFIRE AFTER TRUMP ACCEPTS ‘WORKABLE’ 10-POINT PLAN
But hours later in Europe, Vance accused some leaders in Tehran of “lying about the nature of the agreement” while acknowledging the Iranian foreign minister’s diplomatic response to it.
“They’re lying about the nature of the ceasefire … this is why I say this is a fragile truce,” Vance said. “You have people who clearly want to come to the negotiating table and work with us to find a good deal, and then you have people who are lying about even the fragile truce that we’ve already struck.”
The vice president may have been referring to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which claimed the U.S. had suffered “an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat” in accepting the 10-point plan.
Vance is in Budapest to support Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s reelection bid. Vance has still participated in White House decision-making regarding the Iran war, as reports suggested he was on standby for negotiations and helped push the deal across the line.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited U.S. and Iranian delegations to Islamabad for more peace talks Friday. Vance is expected to attend, as are special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“The president of the United States has told me, and he’s told the entire negotiating team, secretary of state, the special envoy Steve Witkoff,” Vance said. “He said, ‘Go and work in good faith to come to an agreement.’”
But Vance again warned that if the Iranians “lie,” negotiations would not end well for Tehran.
“If the Iranians are willing in good faith to work with us, I think we can make an agreement,” he said. “If they’re going to lie, if they’re going to cheat, if they’re trying to prevent even the fragile truce that we’ve set up from taking place, then they’re not going to be happy.
“Because what the president has also shown is that we still have clear military, diplomatic, and, maybe most importantly, we have extraordinary economic leverage,” he added. “So the president has told us not to use those tools. He’s told us to come to the negotiating table. But if the Iranians don’t do the exact same thing, they’re going to find out the president of the United States is not one to mess around.”