Vance: Iran rebuilding its nuclear program

President Trump remains committed to trying to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran, Vance said.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States has obtained evidence showing that Iran is attempting to reconstitute its nuclear program following the severe damage inflicted on a number of nuclear facilities by Israeli and American airstrikes last June, Vice President JD Vance said this week.

Speaking with reporters at the White House on Wednesday, the vice president said that President Donald Trump remains committed to trying to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran to resolve the ongoing crisis over Tehran’s uranium enrichment program.

“As you know, he is sending two of his best negotiators to Geneva tomorrow in order to continue to try to strike the best deal possible for the American people,” Vance said.

“As the president has said repeatedly, he wants to address that problem diplomatically, but of course the president has other options as well.”

White House special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are slated to take part in talks in Geneva on Wednesday, in what could be the last push for a negotiated settlement before the US strikes Iran.

Vance warned that Iran appears to be working to rebuild its uranium enrichment capacity and emphasized that the administration will never permit Iran to pursue nuclear weapons.

“The principle is very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Vance continued. “If they try to rebuild a nuclear weapon, that causes problems for us. In fact, we’ve seen evidence that they have tried to do exactly that. So the president is sending those negotiators to try to address that problem.”

The USS Gerald R. Ford, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the world’s largest warship, departed from a NATO navy base in Crete on Thursday morning, bound for the eastern Mediterranean, and is expected to reach the Israeli coast Friday.

Once it reaches its destination, the USS Gerald R Ford will be the second American aircraft carrier deployed to the Middle East.