- Trump has made it clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, Vance says.
- The United States and Iran will hold the third round of talks in Geneva on Thursday.
- Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump still preferred a diplomatic solution with Iran and that he hoped the Iranians would take him seriously in their negotiations on Thursday.
Vance said Fox News “America’s Newsroom” said Trump has made clear that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. He said Trump wants to achieve that goal diplomatically, but he has other tools at his disposal.
Delegations from the United States and Iran will hold a third round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva on Thursday.
His comments came as the United States announced new sanctions against Iran, pressing forward with what Washington calls its “maximum pressure” campaign.
As U.S. forces concentrate in the Middle East, Trump claimed in his speech to Congress on Tuesday that Iran was seeking to develop missiles that could attack the United States.
Trump also accused Tehran of having “sinister nuclear ambitions” and working to rebuild a nuclear program that was the target of US attacks last year.
Vance said fox news that while Trump was going to try to “get it done diplomatically,” the American president also had the “right” to resort to military action.
“The president has other tools at his disposal to ensure this does not happen. He has shown a willingness to use them and I hope the Iranians take him seriously in tomorrow’s negotiations because that is certainly what the president prefers.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier struck an optimistic tone, saying there was a “favorable outlook” for negotiations as his Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his team left for Switzerland.
Iran also rejected Trump’s claims about its missile program as “big lies.”
But while Trump said he preferred a diplomatic solution, he also laid out what appeared to be justifications for possible military action in the first State of the Union address of his second term.
It was the same forum in which then-President George W. Bush made the case for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Trump claimed in his speech that Tehran “has already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases abroad, and they are working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.
