JD Vance Says US and Iran Made Progress, While Trump Weighs Striking Iran

On Tuesday, US Vice President JD Vance said the United States and Iran have made “a lot of progress” in their talks and that “the Iranians want to make a deal,” while warning that military action remains an option.

“United States President Donald Trump has warned Iran that the “clock is ticking” to clinch a deal to end the war as reports have emerged that Washington and Israel might be planning to carry out air strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure”

Al Jazeera

Vance told reporters at a White House briefing that the core US issue is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, adding, “We want to keep the number of countries that have nuclear weapons small, and that's why Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Al Jazeera

President Donald Trump said he was “an hour away from making the decision to go today” on striking Iran before deciding to postpone it, and he said he hoped “we don't have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit.”

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X that Washington’s “temporarily” halted attacks language amounts to calling “threat” a “peace opportunity,” while also saying “Iran stands united and decisively ready to confront any military aggression.”

Gharibabadi’s message framed Washington’s stance as contradictory, saying the US “speaks of readiness for a massive offensive at any moment,” and he added, “For us, surrender has no meaning; either we win, or we become martyrs.”

The Express Tribune reported that Trump said the US could strike again within “two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week,” if a deal is not reached to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

iranpress

Iran’s Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia warned that if the enemy “launches new aggression against our beloved Iran, we will open new fronts against it, with new equipment and new methods,” according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.

In a separate warning carried by state media, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei reaffirmed Tehran’s position that uranium enrichment is “non-negotiable,” while Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Commission, said any new aggression would “make Trump even more ashamed.”

Iran’s latest peace proposal described ending hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, lifting the US naval blockade, and providing “reparations for destruction caused by the US-Israeli war,” with IRNA reporting Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi emphasized Iran’s “right to enrich and enjoy peaceful nuclear rights.”

“In a message posted on the social media platform X, Gharibabadi addressed the contradictory nature of Washington's recent threats”

iranpress

Al Jazeera reported that Trump wrote on Truth Social that “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking,” and Iranian Ministry of Defence spokesperson Reza Talaei-Nik said the military is “fully prepared” to confront any new aggression from the US and Israel.

The same Al Jazeera report said Saudi Arabia intercepted three drones a day after a drone strike hit the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates, and it said the UAE Ministry of Defence reported two other drones had been “successfully” dealt with after they were launched from the “western border.”

In the background of the diplomacy, Press TV said a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire has been in place since early April while a US naval blockade of Iranian ports remains, and Tehran vowed the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the blockade is lifted and the war permanently ends.