Vice President JD Vance on Sunday insisted the US has no interest in putting boots on the ground in Iran — while admitting the administration is bracing for potential terror attacks from sleeper cells in America.
“We’re not at war with Iran. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” Vance told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We have no interest in a protracted conflict. We have no interest in boots on the ground,” he said. “We didn’t blow up diplomacy.
“We only took this action when it was clear, as the president said, that the Iranians were tapping us along,” the vice president said of the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities Saturday.
“The Iranians are clearly not very good at war. Perhaps they should follow President Trump’s lead and give peace a chance if they’re serious about it. I guarantee you, the president of the United States is,” Vance said.
The vice president insisted Iran’s network of terrorist proxies in the region is already washed up, as is its nuclear program, though comprehensive damage assessments haven’t been finished.
After announcing the successful military campaign late Saturday, Trump dramatically warned that any retaliation from Iran “will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed” during the strikes on its Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan nuclear sites.
Vance reiterated that warning and underscored that “it would be the stupidest thing in the world if they” seek retribution. He also indicated that the US has been battening down the hatches just in case.
“We’re, of course, doing everything that we can to keep our people safe. I think that we’re prepared in the event that the Iranians do retaliate,” Vance said — before later warning about possible sleeper cells in the US.
“Unfortunately, we know that a lot of people who we don’t have full accounting of were let in over the last four years under the Biden administration,” Vance said.
Also among the fears of reciprocation from Iran is that Tehran could target US bases and other military assets in the Mideast or close off the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which about 20% to 25% of the world’s oil consumption flows.
Vance said it would be “suicidal” for Iran to try to shut the strait, particularly given the havoc that would wreak on its already beleaguered economy.
But he reiterated that “our biggest red line is the Iranian nuclear weapons.”
Vance, throughout his tenure as an elected official, has staked out a staunch anti-war position. He had long been skeptical of protracted US aid to war-torn Ukraine. In March, a leaked Signal message chat revealed that he was privately apprehensive about Trump’s strike against the Houthis in Yemen.
Despite that, Vance was adamant Sunday that Trump is being prudent with his use of military force and that preventing Iran’s theocratic regime from obtaining a nuke is within America’s core interests.
“The president has actually been one of the fiercest critics of 25 years of failed foreign policy in the Middle East, which is why he did what he did: a very precise, a very surgical strike tailored to an American national interest,” Vance said.
“I don’t fear that this is going to become a protracted conflict because I think that we have a president who knows what’s in America’s interest.”
The vice president also juxtaposed Trump’s use of military action against Iran with how past presidents have dealt with conflicts in the tumultuous region.
“I certainly empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East,” he stressed. “I understand the concern. But the difference is that back then we had a dumb president.”
Shortly after news of the strikes broke, a chorus of Democrats called for Trump to be impeached, accusing him of exceeding his military authority. Even some Republicans, such as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), called the airstrikes unconstitutional.
Vance, a former Ohio senator, shrugged off those concerns and stressed that “the president has clear authority to act to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”
Earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before the House and Senate intelligence committees that the US intelligence community assessed that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.” She later accused the media of misconstruing her words.
“They were way too close to a nuclear weapon for the comfort of the president of the United States, which is why he took this action,” Vance said of the Iranians. “We had a narrow window of opportunity.
“We might not have been able to carry out this attack six months down the road,” he added. “It would have been irresponsible, I think, for the president not to take the action that he did.
“What happens next is up to the Iranians,” Vance assessed at another point in the interview.
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