Vice President Vance said on Sunday that the United States is at war with Iran’s nuclear program but not with the country itself.
“No, Kristen, we're not at war with Iran. We're at war with Iran's nuclear program,” Vance said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker when asked whether the U.S. is “now at war with Iran.”
Vance touted the operation as a success and called on the Iranians to “give peace a chance.”
“What we did is we destroyed the Iranian nuclear program. I think we set that program back substantially, and we did it without endangering the lives of the American pilots. That's an incredible thing. And I think we all should be proud, whatever our politics, we should be proud of what these guys accomplished — a very, very high impact mission under a lot of pressure,” Vance said.
Trump announced Saturday the United States had bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, including the Fordow site, which is located in a mountainside.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home,” Trump added. “Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”
Asked what the U.S. will do if Iran retaliates, as its officials have pledged to do, Vance said, “That's ultimately going to be the president's decision.”
“But what we said to the Iranians is, we do not want war with Iran. We actually want peace, but we want peace in the context of them not having a nuclear weapons program, and that's exactly what the President accomplished last night,” Vance said.