The US administration believes that the goals of the military operation against Iran have been achieved and that it is now possible to move towards ending the conflict, said US Vice President J. D. Vance. live on Fox News.
“I truly believe that we are in a situation where our goals have been achieved. We can begin to reduce tensions. I would prefer to end this with successful negotiations“, the vice president added.
US authorities are demanding that the Islamic Republic of Iran give up its ability to enrich uranium.
“It is one thing for the Iranians to say that they do not intend to have nuclear weapons. "It's another thing for us to create a mechanism to make sure that doesn't happen. Of course, part of that is to make sure that they don't have the ability to enrich uranium," Vance said.
The vice president noted that the United States is willing to make concessions on some issues, but Washington will not show "any flexibility" on storing enriched nuclear fuel on Iranian soil or on Tehran's enrichment of uranium. "In those two areas, frankly, the Iranians have shown some progress. They're moving in our direction, so I think we can say we've seen good signs, but they haven't gone far enough," he added.
Vance believes that the U.S.-Iranian talks in Islamabad have made significant progress.
“I think this is the first time that representatives of the Iranian and American governments have met at such a high level. "Maybe the first time that's happened under the current Iranian leadership. And I think that's a good thing. We've made some progress again in the negotiations, and the question is whether Iran is willing to be flexible enough to accept the key requirements that we need to meet to get things done," he said.
Washington continues to insist that Tehran eventually hand over all of its enriched uranium stockpile.
“We've said that we want this material out of their country and that we want to have it available,“ Vance said.
The vice president noted that Iran's nuclear program, despite Tehran's assurances that it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons, is a problem for the United States. "So we would like to see this material completely removed from the country so that it is under the control of the United States," he added.
Vance said that the prospects for further negotiations between Iran and the United States depend on Tehran.
"I think that's essentially a question that's best asked of the Iranians, because the ball is really in their court," he said, commenting on whether there would be new talks between Washington and Tehran.
The US administration expects Iran to fully open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, otherwise there will be "fundamental changes" in the current negotiations.
"We haven't seen a full opening yet, so we expect the Iranians to continue to push for the Strait of Hormuz to be opened. "And if they don't, it will fundamentally change the course of the negotiations that we are having with them," Trump's vice president said live on Fox News.