In a public press briefing held at the White House on Tuesday, United States Vice President JD Vance offered an updated assessment of ongoing diplomatic negotiations with Iran, confirming that discussions have yielded meaningful positive momentum while reaffirming Washington’s readiness to launch new military action if a final agreement cannot be reached.
Vance’s remarks came just hours after President Donald Trump disclosed that he had been just one hour away from authorizing fresh military strikes against Iranian targets just days earlier, and had set a short deadline of two to three days for Tehran to reach a consensus on core terms of the negotiation. When addressing reporters at the briefing, Vance emphasized that while productive headway has been made in the talks, diplomatic efforts will continue regardless of current momentum, and the outcome will ultimately hinge on whether both sides can bridge remaining differences.
A known skeptic of military conflict with Iran who previously led a U.S. diplomatic delegation to Pakistan for related talks back in April, Vance pointed out that a non-negotiable core condition of any final deal is that Iran must abandon all ambitions to develop and possess a nuclear weapon.
“We’re in a pretty good spot here — but there’s an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign,” Vance told reporters. “We’re locked and loaded. We don’t want to go down that pathway, but the president is willing and able to go down that pathway if we have to.” The comments add clarity to the current high-stakes standoff between Washington and Tehran, as global stakeholders watch closely to see whether diplomatic channels can resolve the long-running nuclear dispute without escalating into open conflict.