Vance says Iran has '2 pathways' as 12-hour deadline looms, prays US on 'God's side' in nixing nuclear threat
Vice President JD Vance said that Iran has "two pathways" it can take regarding the conclusion of the war as President Donald Trump’s 12-hour deadline is looming Tuesday for the regime to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power plants and bridges.
Vance, speaking in Hungary, also said he is praying that the United States is on "God’s side" in its pursuit to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"There are two pathways that this thing is ultimately going to end. First of all, the United States has largely accomplished its military objectives," Vance said. "There are still some things that we'd like to do, for example, on Iranian ability to manufacture weapons, that we'd like to do a little bit more work on militarily. But fundamentally, the military objectives of the United States have been completed."
"I think there really are two pathways, and I'm oversimplifying this a little bit, but I think pathway one is where the Iranians decide they're going to be a normal country. They're not going to fund terrorism anymore. They're going to be part of the world system of commerce and exchange," Vance continued. "And that's going to mean much better things for them economically. It's going to mean better things for the peace and safety of the world. It's going to mean a lot of good things for a lot of people all over the planet. That's option A."
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"Option B is that the Iranians don't come to the table and they stay committed to terrorism, to terrorizing their neighbors, not just Israel but of course their Arab neighbors too. Then the economic situation in Iran is going to continue to be very, very bad. And frankly, it will probably get worse," the vice president said.
"The president also has been very clear that while the Iranians are trying to exact as much economic cost through the Strait of Hormuz, the United States has the ability to extract much greater economic costs on Iran than Iran has an ability to extract costs on us or on our friends in the world," Vance also said. "So I hope that they're smart. The president has set a deadline for about 12 hours from now, and the United States, we're going to find out. But there's going to be a lot of negotiation between now and then, and I'm hopeful that it gets to a good resolution."
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Vance told reporters Tuesday that his attitude toward military conflict has been to pray that "we are on God's side."
"We’re doing this because we don't want a regime that has committed acts of terrorism to have the world's most dangerous weapon. Because that would mean a lot of innocent people dead," Vance said about the war. "I certainly hope that God agrees with the decision that Iran shouldn't have a nuclear weapon, but I'll keep praying about it."
Vance also accused Iran of unleashing "acts of economic terrorism" that are obstructing the free flow of gas and oil around the world.
"So they've got to know, we've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use. The president of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don't change their course of conduct," he warned.
Vance also confirmed Tuesday that "we were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island" and "I believe we have done so."