Vance: “We are not at war with Iran, we are at war with Iran’s nuclear program”

Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that despite the attacks of the United States at Iran nuclear sites last night, the United States is not at war with Iran.

“No, we are not at war with Iran, Jon. We are at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” Vance told ABC News “This Week”, Jonathan Karl. “And I think the president took decisive measures to destroy that program last night.”

When asked if I could definitely say that Iran’s nuclear program has now been destroyed, Vance said that the United States has delayed Iran’s nuclear program “substantially.”

“Either years or beyond that, we know that it will be a long time before Iran can build a nuclear weapon if they wish,” Vance said.

During his speech to the nation on Saturday night, President Donald Trump said the strikes “completely and totally destroyed the key facilities of nuclear enrichment of Iran.

Pressing by Karl if the United States could definitely say that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been destroyed, Vance could not confirm it directly and reiterated that Iran’s nuclear program had been “substantially delayed.”

“I can tell the American people with great confidence: that they are much further from the nuclear program today than 24 hours ago,” said Vance. “That was the objective of the mission, destroying that nuclear site of Fordo and, of course, doing some damage to the other sites too. But we feel very sure that the nuclear site of Fordo was substantially delayed, and that was our goal.”

When asked about what happened with the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium that Iran had, Vance said the administration would work in the coming weeks to do something about the fuel and would have conversations with the Iranians.

By discussing the possibility of retaliation from Iran, Vance said that the United States would respond with “overwhelming force.”

“The way I will respond, I think, is ultimately: the ball is on its court,” said Vance. “But if you look at what we did, it was very precise, very limited to our goal. And if the Iranians decide to expand this, that is their decision. And the president of the United States will respond in kind.”

Vance said Trump is not interested in a prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

“That is not what we are getting involved. What we are involving is a very specific effort to eliminate the Iranian nuclear program. That will continue to be the objective of US foreign policy. And it is that goal that will motivate our action, in the coming weeks and months.”

In a publication on its social media platform last week, Trump wrote a publication addressed to the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, writing that it was an “easy goal.”

When asked if the United States is pointing to Khamenei and if the United States has ruled out trying to achieve regime change, Vance said that regime change was not a goal for the Trump administration.

“Well, first of all, we don’t want to achieve regime change. We want to achieve the end of the Iranian nuclear program. Jon. That is the objective of the United States, and that is what the president has proposed to do.”