Vice President JD Vance implored critics of the Iran deal to just “have a little faith” that President Donald Trump would not screw this up.
Vance has been pulling double duty, leading the Trump administration’s messaging campaign backing the memorandum of understanding and touting the release of his own book, a reflection on his journey to Catholicism. The vice president appeared Thursday in the briefing room to answer the latest questions on the peace process and defend the White House’s own murky timeline on the proceedings.
Vance, alongside Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, had helmed the final negotiations with Iran, and he explicitly told reporters that he planned to lead the U.S. side through the next phase of talks.
The MOU itself sets a 60-day window to hash out specifics regarding the future of Iran’s nuclear program, a timeline that Vance clarified and committed to having started on Thursday, following Trump’s signature while dining at the Palace of Versailles in France on Wednesday night.
Furthermore, the vice president said that, despite the upended signing schedule, he still expected to travel to Switzerland at some point this weekend to sign the documents himself, noting that he was trying to sync up his timing with the Iranian delegation.
“It just depends on exactly when the Iranians can get there,” Vance said. “We’re trying to figure that out as we speak. We’ll find out exactly when over the coming days.”
The vice president largely stuck to the same script he’s rolled out in recent days — namely that Trump’s deal will not reward Iran in any way until “they comply fully and change their behavior.”
Vance’s decision to take the lead on the Iran war negotiations carries a heavy risk to any 2028 ambitions. As Trump joked the day before at the conclusion of the G7, if the Iran negotiations fail, Vance will take the blame.
The vice president told reporters that he was not worried about the president’s comments and noted that Trump “was joking … as he often does.”
“The entire team has worked very well on this, and we’ve got this thing to a very good place for the American people,” Vance also said, defending the administration.
Lawmakers slammed several points of the MOU, with many denouncing the $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a rumored 2028 presidential candidate, told the Hill: “History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea.”
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) said in a statement that the $300 billion “would make Iran’s payoff under President Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison.”
Vance pressed those Republican critics on Thursday to “have a little bit of faith in the president of the United States.”
“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s been bad for the American people, it’s preposterous,” Vance said. “He is the person who’s had the courage to fundamentally transform our relationship with Iran and with a lot of other countries over the last year and a half. He believes in this deal, he is going to see it to completion, and if the Iranians don’t comply, we still have every single tool and point of leverage that we have today.”
The vice president additionally outlined plans for the administration to brief congressional lawmakers on the MOU but denied claims that the 14-point plan needed Congress’s approval, citing guidance from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel.
“There are certain things that require congressional approval, there are certain things that don’t require congressional approval,” he said. “We feel quite confident that we can temporarily lift those sanctions without going to Congress and seeking their approval on that.”
Vance had a much more pointed response when it came to addressing criticism voiced by top Israeli government officials, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet.
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“You have seen people within Bibi’s Cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal, and in some ways very personally attacked the president of the United States, and I guess my message to them would be twofold,” the vice president said in response to the final question at his briefing. “No. 1, Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time, and he happens to be the head of state of the world superpower. If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.
“To some of these Cabinet members in Israel who are attacking the president of the United States, the other thing that I would say is that over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars. The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”