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Vice President JD Vance said that the proposed U.S.-Iran deal will usher in a “new day” for the Middle East, while addressing whether U.S. taxpayer funds would be used to finance Iran’s potential $300 billion reconstruction fund in an interview Monday on “Hannity”
Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Iran could have access to the multibillion-dollar fund if the nation fulfills the obligations outlined in its deal with the United States.
“The agreement says they are not getting a single dime of American money,” he said.
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“What the agreement does say, Sean, is if the Iranians behave and if there are sanctions relief and if the Iranians are integrated into the world economy, we would invite other countries, not us, but other countries to invest in their country.”
U.S. and Iranian officials reached an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, cease hostilities and address Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. The deal, known as a memorandum of understanding, is set to be signed on Friday in Switzerland.
A proposed $300 billion fund under consideration by the Trump administration for Iran would be financed by private companies looking to invest in the country, not American taxpayers.
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While the full terms of the U.S.-Iran peace agreement have not been released, Vance emphasized that the deal is performance-based and said Iran will have access to the reconstruction fund only if it complies with the deal’s conditions.
“The Iranians don’t get a dime unless they behave and change their behavior,” he said on “Hannity.”
“If they show verifiable commitment, and that means a real inspections regime, then they can get the benefits of the bargain.”
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, according to Tasnim News Agency, “This memorandum does not mean trusting the enemy; it has been written with active distrust.”
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The vice president insisted that Iran has a “real opportunity” to transform the regime’s strained relationship with the United States, saying that action will be rewarded instead of words.
“I think that they see there’s a real opportunity here to turn over a new leaf so long as they do the right thing,” Vance declared.
“If the Iranians are willing to change their ways. If they’re willing to behave like a normal country, stop trying to build a nuclear weapon, stop trying fund terrorism all over the Middle East, then we are willing to actually fundamentally transform our relationship with them.”
The vice president, who said the deal “absolutely” includes a nuclear-disarmed Iran, addressed how the administration plans to eliminate the nation’s enriched uranium stockpile.
“What we’re going to do, Sean, is destroy the highly enriched material, the nuclear dust, and we’re gonna do it with the Iranians,” he told “Hannity.”
“[Trump] wants us to work with the Iranians, with the international organizations to destroy that stockpile of enriched material.”
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei played a direct role in shaping Iran’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S., according to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Vance, who has taken a leading role in peace talks, revealed that some Iranian hardliners have begun questioning decades of hostility toward the United States.
“You talk about hardliners and moderates. What’s fascinating to me about their system is that we’re seeing even people that I would have assumed are hardliners who are kind of saying, ‘Maybe it was a mistake for us to do the things that we’ve done over the last 40 years. Maybe we should turn over a new leaf in the relationship with the United States of America,’” he said.
“We’ve never had this level of direct communication with the Iranian leadership.”
Vance said that if Iran fails to uphold its commitments, relations between the two countries will revert to their previous state.
“The reason why our Arab allies, our Gulf allies, are so excited about this is because they think this is a new day in the Middle East,” he told Fox News. “But again, if it’s not, then it’s not. If the Iranians don’t comply, then we’re gonna go back to the same relationship that we had before, where we have all the cards.”
“We have the cards, and if they don’t honor the commitment, we’ll figure out what to do when we get there.”
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