Vice President JD Vance announced on Monday that discussions with Iran regarding its nuclear program have come to a standstill. U.S. officials determined that Tehran’s assurances were unconvincing, leading President Donald Trump to greenlight Operation Epic Fury.
During an appearance on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Vance explained that U.S. representatives, including Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner, engaged in a series of “deliberate” negotiations with the Iranian team in Geneva.
The talks, aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for lifting sanctions and preventing a wider conflict, eventually fell apart, according to Vance.
“The Iranians would tell us that pursuing nuclear enrichment for civilian and energy purposes is a matter of national pride,” Vance stated.
Prior to the U.S.-Iran discussions, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi met with President Trump’s Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner in Muscat, Oman, on February 6, 2026. (Oman Foreign Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Vance continued, “We would respond by questioning why they are constructing enrichment facilities 70 feet underground and enriching uranium to levels that far exceed civilian requirements, levels that are only necessary for developing a nuclear weapon.”
“Nobody objects to the Iranians being able to build medical isotopes; the objection is these enrichment facilities that are only useful for building a nuclear weapon,” Vance clarified.
“It just doesn’t pass the smell test for you to say that you want enrichment for medical isotopes, while at the same time trying to build a facility 70 to 80 feet underground,” he explained.
This image from video provided by U.S. Central Command shows a missile being launched from a U.S. Navy ship in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Central Command via AP)
Vance spoke as Operation Epic Fury ended its third day. Launched on Feb. 28, U.S. and Israeli forces carried out coordinated precision strikes deep inside Iran aimed at crippling Tehran’s missile arsenal and nuclear infrastructure.
A key issue had been Iran enriching uranium to high levels, including material around 60% purity — a fraction of weapons-grade but far above limits set under the 2015 nuclear deal — keeping international alarm high over proliferation risks.
“We destroyed Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon during President Trump’s term,” Vance told Watters. “We set them back substantially. But I think the President was looking for the long haul,” he said.
“Trump was looking for Iran to make a significant long-term commitment that they would never build a nuclear weapon, that they would not pursue the ability to be on the brink of a nuclear weapon.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks with Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Nov. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
“He wanted to make sure that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon, and that would require fundamentally a change in mindset from the Iranian regime.”
“The President is not going to rest until he accomplishes that all-important objective of ensuring that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon, not just for the next few years, not just because we obliterated for dough or some other.”
“There’s just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multiyear conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective,” Vance added while describing that the administration would prefer to see “a friendly regime in Iran, a stable country, a country that’s willing to work with the United States.”
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