Vice President JD Vance made clear Monday that while the United States and Israel remain close allies with many shared goals, the Trump administration’s policy toward Iran will ultimately be guided by what it views as America’s own strategic interests.

During an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Vance stressed the strong partnership between Washington and Jerusalem but acknowledged that the two nations do not always see every issue the same way.

“The Israelis and the United States, we have a lot of shared interests.”

“But we also have some situations where our interests diverge, and I think where the president has been very clear here is that while Israel obviously has some objectives that it has, the United States’ main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon,” he added.

Vance argued that developments over the past year and a half have positioned the administration to pursue what it believes could become a lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear challenge.

“Over the last year and a half, we’ve created the space necessary where the president believes – and I think he’s right – that we can get a long-term settlement to Iran’s nuclear issue,” Vance said.

He emphasized that Washington intends to continue pursuing that objective regardless of whether Israeli leaders fully support the approach.

“Now, Israel may like that, they may not like that, but fundamentally, we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America,” he said, adding that Washington will continue pursuing that goal because “that’s what the president of the United States was elected to do.”

Earlier Monday, President Trump predicted that the United States would soon achieve what he described as a decisive outcome in its confrontation with Iran.

Trump made the remarks during a telephone rally held in support of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and it’s as simple as that. They cannot have, the destruction is so powerful, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. And Lindsey has been fighting with me all the way, all the way for that,” Trump said.

“We’ve been a very tough team, and I think we are winning that battle, but you’re really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory. It’ll be a total victory. It’ll happen very soon. And oil prices will come tumbling down,” he added.

Trump’s remarks marked a notable shift from comments he made only days earlier, when he expressed optimism that negotiations with Tehran were progressing and suggested a breakthrough could be imminent.

“I hear the negotiations with Iran are going very well. If a deal happens with Iran it could be done over the weekend,” Trump told reporters last Wednesday, adding that Iran is “close” to signing the papers.

The president also said he expects Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium to be transferred to the United States and indicated that such a move could occur in the near future.

However, senior Iranian officials have offered a far less optimistic assessment of the diplomatic effort. Speaking to CNN on Friday, Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said negotiations with Washington have stalled.

Rezaei asserted that “the negotiations are at a deadlock and (US President Donald) Trump must break this deadlock,” adding that “the ball is in Trump’s court.”

{Matzav.com}