JD Vance was asked to react on a live Fox News broadcast moments after Donald Trump declared on social media that Iran and Israel had agreed to a “Complete and Total CEASEFIRE.”
The vice president was faithful to Trump’s talking points in the interview with Bret Baier, doing a victory lap and insisting the president “obliterated the Iranian nuclear program” and set the stage for “long term peace for the region” without any American casualties.
Just before Vance went on air, the president had posted on Truth Social: “CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!”
Trump said the conflict should be known as “THE 12 DAY WAR.”
Asked about the announcement, Vance said, “We were actually working on that just as I left the White House to come over here. So that’s good news that the president was able to get that across the finish line.”
He said he had read a draft of Trump’s post “two minutes before we went on the air” and it was “a little bit different from what the president had showed me a couple of hours ago.”
“But again, I knew that he was working the phones as I was on the way over here, so I knew exactly what we were going to do,” he added.
Vance repeatedly echoed Trump’s name for ending the hostilities—which began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear and military targets—and framed the U.S. intervention as a game-changing success.
“I think the President really hit the reset button and said, look, let’s actually produce long term peace for the region,” he said. “That’s always been his goal. I actually think when we look back, we will say the 12 Day War was an important reset moment for the entire region.”
Neither Israel nor Iran has commented yet on any ceasefire. Iran launched missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar on Monday in retaliation for Saturday’s strikes; no casualties were reported.
Trump and his top allies have repeatedly claimed the U.S. totally “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear sites it bombed on Saturday, though many experts have said it’s still to early to assess the full extent of the damage.
There are also concerns that Iran may have preemptively moved equipment and enriched uranium stockpiles out of the targeted facilities to undisclosed locations. Some analysts warn that the strikes could ultimately motivate Iran to pursue a nuclear weapon—the very outcome the U.S. and Israel were trying to prevent.
“Do you know for sure where all the highly-enriched uranium is?” Baier asked Vance.
Vance deflected. “Well Bret, I think that’s actually not the question before us,” he said. “The question is, can Iran enrich the uranium to weapons-grade level, and can they convert that fuel to a nuclear weapon?”
“And we know, based on the success of our mission, of course, the leadership of the president, but the incredible skill of our military, that the two mission objectives are completely successful,” he continued. “We know that they cannot build a nuclear weapon.”
Appearing on The Ingraham Angle shortly afterwards, Baier described how the breaking news had played out with Vance on set.
“As I look down to read it, his staff comes in with an iPhone so he can read the Truth Social as it’s coming in,” the Fox News anchor said.
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