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Vice President JD Vance said Iran holds the deciding hand in what comes next in the Middle East conflict, while rejecting reports that recent peace talks in Pakistan ended in failure.
Vance’s remarks come after his weekend trip to Pakistan for face-to-face negotiations with Iranian officials – talks that reports suggested produced no breakthrough.
“The ball is very much in their court,” Vance told “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier on Monday. “You ask what happens next, I think the Iranians are going to determine what happens next.”
Vance said there were “good conversations” during the weekend talks that helped clarify U.S. priorities, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial international oil route.
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“I wouldn’t just say that things went wrong. I also think things went right. We made a lot of progress,” he said.
“They moved in our direction, which is why I think we would say that we had some good signs, but they didn’t move far enough.”
Vance told Fox News that the Pakistan peace talks ultimately ended because Iranian negotiators were unable to finalize a deal, adding that the discussions revealed insights into who holds decision-making authority in Tehran.
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“We acquired some knowledge about how the Iranians are negotiating, and this is ultimately why we left Pakistan,” he said.
“What we figured out is that they were unable, I think — the team that was there, was unable to cut a deal,” he explained. “They had to go back to Tehran, either from the supreme leader or somebody else, and actually get approval to the terms that we had set.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump instituted a naval blockade of all Iranian ports Monday, following weeks of tensions in which Iran barred U.S. vessels from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
“What they [Iranians] have done is engage in this act of economic terrorism against the entire world. They’ve basically threatened any ship that’s moving through the Straits of Hormuz. Well, as the President of the United States showed, two can play at that game,” Vance said.
U.S. navy ships have been ordered to identify and flag any Iran-affiliated vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Vance said that given the United States’ ceasefire agreement, he expects Iran to fully reopen the critical trade route, but admitted that it was a goal point that Iranians “tried to move” during the Pakistan talks.
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“We’ve stopped bombing the country. What we expect the Iranians to give up is a full reopening of the Straits of Hormuz,” the vice president told Fox News.
The administration’s strategy to target Iranian ships marks an intensification of its pressure campaign to force Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz – this time, by strangling Iran’s ability to transport its own oil.
“If the Iranians are gonna try to engage in economic terrorism, we’re gonna abide by a simple principle that no Iranian ships are getting out either,” Vance said. “We know that’s a big deal to them. We know it applies additional economic leverage.”
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Vance said the United States still maintains the upper hand, even as the next move rests with Iran.
“We have the military advantage,” the vice president said. “We now have additional economic pressure that we’re applying on them through the blockade that we’ve imposed on their oil coming out of the Straits of Hormuz.”
“We have a lot of cards. We have the leverage, and we’re going to see what the Iranians do with that,” he continued.
Vance also addressed reports that he was skeptical of Trump’s move to launch a war on Iran alongside Israel.
“I give my advice to the President of the United States, and we all do. And I expect that when I give advice to the President of the United States that it’s going to be private because the president should rely on his senior advisors without them running to the media.”
“What I will say, Bret, is that I 100% agree with the president on the fact that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
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