JD Vance Lays Out Terrifying Scenario Of What Could Happen If Iran Gets A Nuclear Weapon

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In remarks at a Munich Security Conference event in Washington, D.C., on Monday Vice President JD Vance discussed Iran.

Transcript

00:00Friends agree. Great. I get signs from my friend here that we're quickly running out of time.

00:08I'm having fun. Okay. And we can take a few more questions. Okay, great. Wonderful. My team over

00:14there is very nervous. You guys can't see them behind. We'll be brief. Please. So thank you very

00:19much. We've heard that there is in coming days or next two weeks a presidential trip to the

00:28Middle East coming up. Sure. Among the many unresolved issues of that region is the issue of

00:35Iran and their nuclear ambition, et cetera, et cetera. Could you talk a little bit about the

00:40region? I mean, there's so many unresolved issues, the Gaza issue, but also Tehran. What would we,

00:48what would your expectation be? What would the goal be? Would you go for zero enrichment by Iran?

00:54Some people have suggested that, or are we looking at a, a, a, a, a replay of the earlier,

01:03you know, agreement that was reached 10 years ago? Yep. So there are a couple issues with the

01:08earlier agreement. Um, the JCPOA as, as, uh, it's, it's called here in the United States and I assume

01:15in Europe, but here, here, the two big issues with that agreement are number one, the enforcement or

01:21the inspections regime was incredibly weak. And I, I don't think that it actually served the function

01:28of preventing the Iranians from getting on the pathway to nuclear weapon. That's one thing that

01:32must be different. And then second, yes, we believe that there were some elements of their nuclear

01:37program that were preserved under JCPOA that yes, they weren't nuclear weapons. Iran doesn't have a

01:43nuclear weapon, but allowed Iran to sort of stay on this glide path towards a nuclear weapon if they

01:49flip the switch and press go. And we have to think about this, not just in terms of Iran, which again,

01:54the president has said this, we think that there is a deal here that would reintegrate Iran into the

02:00global economy that would be really good for the Iranian people, but would result in the complete

02:05cessation of any chance that they could get a nuclear weapon. And that's what we're negotiating

02:09towards. And as the president has said, that's option A and option B, if option A is very good for the

02:15Iranian people, and even, you know, some of the folks, the leadership in Iran, option B is very

02:21bad. It's very bad for everybody, and it's not what we want, but it's better than option C, which

02:26is Iran getting a nuclear weapon. That is what is completely off the table for the American

02:30administration, no ifs, ands, or buts. Now, there are a couple of other things that are worth thinking

02:35about, because this is not just about Iran. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, which country then next

02:41gets a nuclear weapon, and then when that country gets a nuclear weapon, which country

02:45after that, we really care, not just about Iran, but about nuclear proliferation. And

02:51the president said this in an interview a few weeks ago, it's one of these things that in

02:54the, in the maelstrom of the media, the signal and the noise, this was very much signal, but

03:01it got lost in the noise. The president hates nuclear proliferation. I hate nuclear proliferation,

03:06and I think that the president would be very open to sitting down with the Russians and

03:12the Chinese and saying, look, let's get this thing in a much better place. Let's reduce

03:17the number of nuclear weapons that are in the world writ large. That's obviously not a conversation

03:21for tomorrow. That's a conversation, God willing, for a few years from now. But there is no way

03:26you get to that conversation if you allow multiple regimes all over the world to basically enter

03:32this sprint for a nuclear weapon. And we really think that if the Iran domino falls, you're

03:37going to see nuclear proliferation all over the Middle East. That's very bad for us. It's

03:41very bad for our friends. And it's something that we don't think can happen. So without,

03:45without prejudging the negotiations, I will say so far so good. We've been very happy by how

03:52the Iranians have responded to some of the points that we've made. We've been very happy

03:56that some of the intermediaries and some of the folks who are in the room, the role that

04:00they've played, the Omanis in particular, have played a very positive role, and we're

04:03very grateful to that. So, so far, we're on the right pathway. But this is going to end

04:09somewhere. And it will end either in Iran eliminating their nuclear program, their nuclear weapons

04:16program. They can have civil nuclear power, okay? We don't mind that. But let me ask this

04:23basic question, which regime in the world has civil nuclear power and enrichment without

04:32having a nuclear weapon? And the answer is no one. No one right now has a civil nuclear

04:38program with their entire enrichment infrastructure that can enrich to the, you know, 90 plus percent

04:44needed to get to fissile material and a nuclear weapon. So our, our, our proposition is very

04:49simple. Yes, we don't care if people want nuclear power. We're fine with that. But you can't have

04:56the kind of enrichment program that allows you to get to a nuclear weapon. And that's where

05:00we draw the line.

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