US Vice President JD Vance said that Iran is not yet willing to acknowledge some of US President Donald Trump's "red lines," particularly those regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, following Tuesday's negotiations in Geneva.
“In some ways it went well, they agreed to meet afterwards, but in other ways it was very clear that the President has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,” Vance told Fox News.
The American vice president made clear that the US's primary goal is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
"We don't want nuclear proliferation. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, there are a lot of other regimes, some friendly, some not so friendly, who would get nuclear weapons after them," he said.
Vance noted that the US is dealing with a "crazy regime" and referenced Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Tuesday suggestion that Iran could sink a US warship. "You know, well, one of your nice warships might end up at the bottom of the sea," Vance paraphrased Khamenei as saying.
Vance continued, saying the US has a "very powerful military" that Trump has shown willingness to use. At the same time, Vance went on, the president has also shown a willingness to engage with its "remarkable" diplomatic team.
According to Vance, the US would "very much like" to resolve tensions with Iran through "diplomatic negotiation," and the American government would continue to work toward such a resolution, but "the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end."
"We hope we don't get to that point," he said.
Vance: Trump, unlike Obama, is willing to act aggressively to defend America
The vice president stated that Trump's approach is very different from former US president Barack Obama's, in that he is much more "willing to act aggressively to defend America's national security." He affirmed that, whether it be through diplomatic or military options, "the Iranians cannot have a nuclear weapon."
Vance said that preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power has been one of Trump's goals since his first presidential campaign in 2015, as the Islamic Republic is "one of the most hostile and also one of the most irrational regimes in the world."
"You can't have people like that have the most dangerous weapon known to man. It would be awful for our security, it would be awful for the future of our children," Vance told Fox News, adding that the US is also seeking from Iran, which is "one of the world's largest state sponsors of terrorism," to cease propping up its regional proxies.
Geneva talks end with gaps between US, Iran remaining
The second round of talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva, which concluded on Tuesday, were productive, but significant gaps remain, several sources told The Jerusalem Post that day.
Oman mediated the talks, which Reuters reported were attended by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
According to Araghchi, Reuters noted, the initial meetings resulted in “an understanding on main principles” between Washington and Tehran.
"Progress was made in the talks with Iran, but many details still need to be discussed,” a US official told the Post. According to the official, the Iranians said they would return within two weeks with detailed proposals to bridge some of the remaining gaps with Washington.
Amichai Stein, Danielle Greyman-Kennard, James Genn, and Reuters contributed to this report.