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Vice President Vance took to the White House press briefing podium Thursday to hit back against a growing chorus of critics of the Trump administration’s deal with Iran after President Trump signed the agreement.
Vance referred to criticism of the preliminary agreement from both sides of the aisle as “fundamentally untrue” and even took swipes at members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet over their attacks on the deal.
The vice president also sought to clarify a number of key issues surrounding the deal, including on sanctions relief and the $300 billion construction fund for Iran.
Vance noted the clock on the 60 days of negotiations following the deal started on Thursday, and said the administration would brief lawmakers “very soon.”
Here are five takeaways from Vance’s briefing:
Says Republican criticisms ‘fundamentally untrue’
The preliminary agreement faced criticism even before it was signed on Wednesday evening, with a growing number of Republicans and conservative figures arguing it was too weak on Iran.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told The Hill on Wednesday that he believes Trump is
“is receiving some very poor advice on this deal,” while Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he worried the agreement “negotiates away the victories of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely out of step with the president’s goals.”
Vance hit back at the criticism when specifically asked about Senate Republican pushback on the deal.
“So many of what I’ve read or heard that people believe about this is fundamentally untrue,” Vance said at the briefing.
Vance noted the agreement is a memorandum of understanding, arguing it’s about “rewarding good conduct and punishing bad conduct,” and urged critics “to have a little faith” in President Trump.
“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s been bad for the American people, it’s preposterous,” he said. “He is the person who has had the courage to fundamentally transform our relationship with Iran and with a lot of other countries over the last year and a half.”
Not worried about becoming Trump’s fall guy
Vance dismissed the notion that he would face the blame for the Trump administration if the deal with Iran fell through.
“No, not at all,” Vance said, when asked if he was worried Trump would make him the fall guy.
Trump quipped on stage at the G7 summit Wednesday that Vance, the lead negotiator with Tehran, would take the blame if the deal falls through.
“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD. He’s going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here,” he said.
When asked about the comment on Thursday, Vance said, “I think the president was joking as he often does.”
Still, Vance has become the administration’s face of the Iran deal, taking part in numerous media interviews to sell the deal, which coincided with his book tour this week.
He led the U.S. delegation to Islamabad in April to negotiate with the Iranians and is set to remain Trump’s point person in talks on a broader nuclear deal.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has also been critical of the MOU, said there was some truth to Trump’s remarks about Vance on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t a joke,” Cornyn said, according to Igor Bobic of NOTUS.
Warns Isreali officials against attacking Trump
Vance pushed back on a reporter saying that Netanyahu was “fuming” over the MOU, and warned Israeli officials critical of Trump’s deal with Iran from personally attacking the president and isolating Israel’s best friend in the world.
The Vice President’s pushback comes as tensions between Trump and Netanyahu have spiked over the U.S. decision to sign the MOU with Iran.
“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” Vance said.
“The other thing that I would say is that over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.”
Israeli officials across the political spectrum have come out against the MOU, with Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir saying that “Trump’s agreement does not bind us,” and urging for stronger attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. A ceasefire in Lebanon is the first pillar of the MOU.
“We must not compromise on anything less than the dismantling of Hezbollah,” Ben-Gvir continued, arguing for Israel to not withdraw from southern Lebanon until the threat from Hezbollah is neutralized.
Plays down significance of oil sanctions relief
Vance told reporters that he didn’t view the waiving of the sanctions as a major concession for the Iranians.
“We didn’t see that as a major concession to the Iranians, frankly,” he said. “The Iranians didn’t see that as a concession to them, because what prevented them from selling oil was not the sanctions, they were selling plenty of oil without any discount, because the sanctions were just fundamentally ineffective at that point.”
“The blockade is what’s effective,” Vance added.
One point of the 14-point MOU says that upon its signing, the Treasury Department will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives and associated services.
Critics of the deal have said this provides a crucial economic lifeline to Iran at a time when the country has been badly weakened and is more likely to make nuclear concessions.
However, the vice president said that by lifting those sanctions, the U.S. gets to see “where their financial system actually sends money and receives money.”
“That’s a real benefit to the American people, and that’s really the only thing that has changed by the change in sanctions,” he said.
60-day clock starts today; unsure about Switzerland trip
Vance said the 60-day period for negotiations starts Thursday after Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the MOU Wednesday.
“Yes, the deal started yesterday,” he said at the briefing. “We’re going to start the 60-day clock today.”
There was some confusion over the signings. U.S. officials told reporters earlier this week that Trump, Vance and Mahommad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament, digitally signed the MOU last weekend. An official signing ceremony was supposed to take place Friday in Switzerland with Vance signing for the U.S.
However, after Trump signed the memo while dining at the Palace of Versailles in France Wednesday, people wondered whether the signing ceremony would continue.
Vance said he would travel to Switzerland in the near future to negotiate with the Iranians, but was unsure when the trip would take place.
He was reportedly planning to make the trip this weekend along with Trump’s international negotiating duo of special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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