Vance denies that Iran will receive “billions of dollars of assets” in deal
Vice President JD Vance denied on Monday that Iran will receive “billions of dollars of assets” as part of a the U.S.-Iran deal that was announced Sunday and is set to be signed later this week.
“When people say that billions of dollars of assets will be released, that’s not true,” Vance said on “CBS Mornings.” “What is true is that Iran will have a much better and much more prosperous future if they meet the obligations they make in this agreement.”
The U.S. has yet to release the terms of the agreement. But Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Monday that under the agreement, the country will receive $24 billion in frozen funds during the 60-day final negotiation period, of which half must be made available before final negotiations begin.
Pressed on the possibility of unfreezing Iranian assets, Vance said while “we’re open to a lot of things that are on the table,” the $24 billion figure “just doesn’t appear anywhere in any of the texts that we’ve talked about with the Iranians.”
“What we have said is that we’re willing to talk about unfreezing assets, but a much, much bigger deal is unsanctioning their economy — so long as they make the long-term commitments on the nuclear program,” Vance said.
Vance stressed that “one of the things these hardliner elements in their country are going to do is misrepresent the deal, so that they can sell it to certain elements of their domestic audience.”
“But I think, again, the text is very clear,” he added. “There’s nothing about $24 billion.”
The vice president said the Trump administration plans to release the full text of the U.S.-Iran agreement this week, saying “we want the American people to see it.”
“Sometimes with these agreements, there are some diplomatic protocols, some technical things to work out, but we plan to release the full text this week,” Vance said.
Vance said there is some misreporting about what’s in the agreement, claiming the deal broadly “ensures that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, while simultaneously opening the Strait of Hormuz.”
Vance said it “fundamentally extends a hand to Iran and says, ‘look, if you guys are willing to honor your obligations if you’re willing to allow real inspections of your nuclear program, then we will welcome you back into the world economy.'”
As far as the enforcement of the nuclear component of the agreement, Vance didn’t rule out the possibility of U.S. military forces being used to help ensure Iran’s compliance with an agreement on its nuclear materials, though he said he didn’t “think the U.S. military forces are going to be necessary.”
“We certainly talked with the Iranians about how we’re going to destroy that enriched stockpile. The technical details are one of the things that we’re going to work on when we start those technical talks on Friday,” Vance said on “CBS Mornings.”
Vance added that the administration is working with U.N. nuclear watchdog and the Iranians to “go in and destroy that enriched stockpile of material.”
“Whether we play an observer role or whether we play a more active role, these are the sorts of things that we’ll figure out in technical talks,” Vance said. “But what the president has made very clear is the United States will be there to confirm that that enriched stockpile of material is destroyed.”
