Iran talks making ‘good progress’, says US V-P Vance, but Washington ‘locked and loaded’
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US Vice-President J.D. Vance holding a press briefing at the White House on May 19.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- US Vice-President J.D. Vance stated on May 19 that talks with Iran are making "good progress" and Iran "wants to make a deal."
- The US insists Iran must not possess nuclear weapons, viewing it as a core issue to prevent global proliferation.
- Vance warned the US is "locked and loaded" to restart military operations if a deal is not reached within days.
AI generated
WASHINGTON - US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on May 19 that Iran talks are making good progress but Washington was “locked and loaded” to restart military operations if there is no deal.
Mr Vance’s comments came hours after President Donald Trump said he had come within an hour of ordering fresh strikes and gave Tehran “two or three days” to reach an agreement.
“A lot of good progress is being made, but we’re just going to keep on working at it, and eventually we’ll either hit a deal or we won’t,” Mr Vance told a briefing at the White House.
Mr Vance - an Iran war-sceptic who led a US delegation to Pakistan in April for talks that failed to produce a deal - said Iran had to accept that it could not have a nuclear weapon.
“We’re in a pretty good spot here - but there’s an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign,” said the US vice-president.
“We’re locked and loaded. We don’t want to go down that pathway, but the president is willing and able to go down that pathway if we have to.” AFP
