Vice President Vance says US strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back for years and warns Tehran against any retaliation.

Vance Praises Precision, Warns Iran on Next Steps

Vice President JD Vance declared Sunday that the United States is “not at war with Iran,” but instead with its nuclear program, which has been “substantially” set back by American military action. In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Vance lauded President Donald Trump’s “decisive action to destroy the program,” expressing deep gratitude to the US military for their precision and professionalism during the operation.

Vance described the mission as a technical and logistical feat, highlighting how US pilots flew a 30-hour nonstop sortie, never landing, to deliver a 30,000-pound bomb onto a target “the size of a washing machine.” He stressed, “No military in the world has the training, the skills, and the equipment to do what these guys did last night.” Vance underscored that the US had accomplished a core national objective: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapons program.”

Strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan

The operation, involving over 125 aircraft, targeted Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities. Vance, while declining to discuss sensitive details, asserted, “We know that we set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially last night. Whether it’s years or beyond that, we know it’s going to be a very long time before Iran can even build a nuclear weapon if they want to.” He added, “We feel very confident that the Fordow nuclear site was substantially set back and that was our goal.”

Pressed on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Vance described the run-up to the operation as a period of diplomatic engagement with Iran, which ended in mid-May when Trump issued private ultimatums. He warned Tehran that retaliation would be a “catastrophic mistake,” saying, “If you look at what happened last night, we had an incredibly targeted, precise surgical strike on the nuclear facilities that are the target of the American operation.”

Vance reiterated that the United States seeks a peaceful solution: “There is no way that the United States is going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And so they really have to choose a pathway.” He urged Iran’s leaders to “work with us to give up nuclear weapons permanently,” assuring that “they’re certainly going to find a willing partner in the United States” if they choose that path.

Trump’s Warning: Consequences for Retaliation

President Trump, in a Saturday night address, made it clear that any retaliation by Iran “will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight.” He described the strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan as “massive precision strikes” that have “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ending what he called a “horribly destructive enterprise.”

As diplomatic options remain open but the threat of overwhelming force lingers, the future course of US-Iran relations now depends on Tehran’s response. Vance concluded, “What happens next is up to the Iranians.”