JD Vance has stated that the United States is “not at war” with Iran but with its nuclear weapons program, as the White House seeks to maintain this position while the Iranian regime considers a response to Saturday's US strike on three nuclear installations.
In an interview on NBC News' Meet the Press, the US vice-president was asked if the US was now at war with Iran. “We’re not at war with Iran,” Vance replied. “We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program.” However, he declined to confirm Donald Trump's claim that Iran's nuclear sites had been “completely and totally obliterated,” instead saying the US had “substantially delayed” Iran's nuclear ambitions.
“I’m not going to get into sensitive intelligence about what we’ve seen on the ground there in Iran, but we’ve seen a lot, and I feel very confident that we’ve substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon,” Vance said. He added, “Severely damaged versus obliterated – I’m not exactly sure what the difference is.”
An Iranian member of parliament claimed on Sunday that the Fordow enrichment plant was not seriously damaged, while satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed new craters and possible collapsed tunnel entrances but left the main support building undamaged. Gen Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, said initial assessments indicated “extremely severe damage and destruction” at all three sites.
Nuclear non-proliferation analysts are divided on the strikes' effectiveness. Darya Dolzikova of the Royal United Services Institute told Bloomberg that the attack might convince Iran to build deeper, undeclared facilities. Iran's foreign minister plans to meet Russia's president in Moscow, while Israel's prime minister said his forces are close to destroying Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile threats.
