Vance: US won’t ‘trade words for actions’ with Iran

The vice president questioned Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.

By World Israel News Staff

Vice President JD Vance said Iran must take concrete steps to end its high-level uranium enrichment program in order to reach an agreement to conclude the ongoing war with the United States, while suggesting that Tehran’s leadership remains in turmoil.

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Vance expressed skepticism toward Iran’s longstanding claims that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.

“If you don’t want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel? And if you want to show commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, don’t build highly enriched fuel. That’s a very basic threshold issue,” Vance told Reuters. “I think if they want to show a commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, they would do something meaningful on their enrichment capacity.”

Vance also made clear that the Trump administration would not rely solely on Iranian assurances when assessing Tehran’s intentions.

“We’re not going to trade words for actions,” Vance said.

His comments came as the Trump administration continues efforts to determine whether a diplomatic path can be found to end the conflict with Iran. Vance has taken a more diplomatically focused approach in recent interviews, appearing to place greater emphasis on negotiations and a potential agreement than President Donald Trump has in some of his public statements.

Vance also suggested that the U.S. remains uncertain about who is effectively making decisions in Tehran following a series of decapitation strikes targeting Iran’s leadership.

The strikes included a bombing that killed longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and helped trigger Operation Epic Fury in late February.

Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has since been claimed to have become Iran’s new leader. However, questions remain over whether he is physically present in Iran, whether he was seriously wounded in the airstrike that killed his father, and whether he is actually directing the decisions and public statements being made in his name.

“One of the things we picked up on is it’s not totally clear how their country makes decisions,” Vance says.

Trump similarly pointed to uncertainty over Iran’s leadership in a separate statement on Tuesday, saying that one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a deal is that “nobody knows who the hell is running the country.”