Maryland (US): US Vice President JD Vance said Washington is \u201cvery close\u201d to achieving a broader strategic agreement in West Asia, asserting that recent US actions will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, weaken Iran\u2019s conventional military capabilities, and position the United States to significantly delay Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Vance said the administration viewed the developments as a major strategic gain for the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at what we\u2019ve already accomplished here, assuming that we\u2019re able to get to a final agreement here, we\u2019re reopening the Strait of Hormuz, we\u2019ve already decimated their conventional military, and we\u2019re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this President, but over the long term. That\u2019s a very, very good thing for the American people,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n
He added that negotiations and efforts were still ongoing, but indicated that progress was nearing a critical stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we\u2019re not there yet, but we\u2019re very close. We\u2019re going to keep on working at it,\u201d the Vice President said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed President Donald Trump\u2019s administration\u2019s \u201ckinetic actions and economic pressure\u201d on Iran, which he said worked to bring Tehran to the negotiation table about its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the reporters at a White House briefing, Bessent noted that this wasn\u2019t achieved by any other administration and hoped that the US could \u2018commit\u2019 Iran to renounce its nuclear programme as the ceasefire negotiations continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration, President Trump, has done something that no other administration was able to do. We have gotten the Iranians to talk about their nuclear programme and perhaps commit to not having one. That has never happened before. It had been off the table,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWhen you look at the results of the kinetic action of our economic pressure, it has worked to bring them to the table and have a discussion on this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Speaking about the potential US deal with Iran, Bessent stressed that it depends on President Donald Trump, who is resolute on his demand against Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything depends on what the president wants to do, and President Trump is not going to make a bad deal for the American people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He insisted that any deal would need to meet Trump\u2019s demands that Iran turn over its highly enriched uranium and commit not to pursue a nuclear weapon, in addition to allowing free navigation through the strait.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a multifaceted agreement and nothing is going to be on the table until we see the Strait of Hormuz open and the Iranians agree that they have to turn over the highly enriched uranium, and that they can\u2019t have a nuclear program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
US and Iranian negotiators have reportedly reached a tentative 60-day memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at extending a fragile ceasefire and paving the way for formal talks regarding Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. According to an Axios report, the agreement is now awaiting final approval from President Donald Trump, as well as Iran\u2019s acceptance.<\/p>\n
The proposed MoU is designed to serve as a bridge to bring both nations to the negotiating table to address the ongoing crisis in West Asia.<\/p>\n
While officials on both sides noted that most terms were settled by Tuesday, the final hurdle remains the blessing of top leadership.<\/p>\n
One US official noted that President Trump has requested a few days to review the final draft before committing to the framework, reported Axios.<\/p>\n
The deal, if finalised, would mark the most significant diplomatic breakthrough since the conflict began on February 28.<\/p>\n
However, officials noted that a comprehensive agreement addressing Trump\u2019s nuclear demands would still require extensive negotiations.
\n\u201cThis is an agreement to get everybody to the table. We will work out the details in the negotiations,\u201d one of the US officials said, as reported by Axios.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maryland (US): US Vice President JD Vance said Washington is \u201cvery close\u201d to achieving a broader strategic agreement in West Asia, asserting that recent US actions will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, weaken Iran\u2019s conventional military capabilities, and position the United States to significantly delay Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme. Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13706"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13710,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13706\/revisions\/13710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}