Vance Answers The ‘Big Question’: ‘We’re Not At War With Iran’

Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday the United States is not at war with Iran after President Donald Trump ordered strikes on three of that country’s nuclear facilities.

Vance made the declaration in response to what anchor Jonathan Karl called the “big question” at the top of an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

“No, we’re not at war with Iran, Jon,” Vance said. “We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program. And I think the president took decisive action to destroy that program last night.”

Vance stressed that Trump, who has long stated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, wants to force new leadership in Tehran.

“We don’t want to achieve regime change — we want to achieve the end of the Iranian nuclear program,” Vance said, adding that the strikes were a “major step forward” toward achieving that result.

Vance warned Iran against retaliating against the United States.

“If the Iranians attack us, they’re going to be met with overwhelming force … We did not attack the nation of Iran. We did not attack any civilian targets. We didn’t even attack military targets outside of the three nuclear weapons facilities,” Vance said.

If Iran were to attack the United States, Vance said that he believes the United States will be able to protect as many of its people as possible.

“We have got maximum defensive posture,” Vance said.

Vance contended that one cannot expect peace in the region if Iran were to get a nuclear weapon.

“It would lead to absolutely disastrous military conflict all over the Middle East,” Vance said. “We don’t want that, our Gulf Arab allies don’t want that, Israel doesn’t want that.”

Vance insisted that stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is one of the few issues that unites the Arabians and the Israelis.

“They know it would lead to the opposite of peace,” he said.

Vance also sought to offer comfort to those worried about the United States getting involved in another longstanding war.

“The president — more than anybody — is worried about protracted military conflicts. That is not what we’re getting ourselves involved in,” Vance said.

“What we’re getting ourselves involved in is a very targeted effort to eliminate the Iranian nuclear program,” Vance said. “That will continue to be the goal of American foreign policy. And it’s that goal that is going to motivate our action in the weeks and months to come.”