'Not at war with Iran but...': JD Vance reveals motive behind US attack on Iranian nuclear sites

US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday (June 22) that the United States was not at war with Iran but at war with its nuclear program. Vance also declined to confirm with 100% certainty that Iran’s nuclear sites were completely destroyed, saying instead that he believes the US has “substantially delayed” Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon. This comes after Trump said he had "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites in strikes overnight with massive bunker-busting bombs, joining Israel's assault against Tehran. The US Vice President also accused Iran of not negotiating in good faith, which he said served as a catalyst for US strikes. The US had been in diplomatic talks with Iran about Tehran's nuclear program. Vance added that the Trump administration "had no interest in boots on the ground." Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not.

"We're not at war with Iran. We're at war with Iran's nuclear program. I think that we have really pushed their program back by a very long time. I think that it's going to be many, many years before the Iranians are going to be able to develop a nuclear weapon."," Vance said in an interview on NBC.

Asked if he was 100% sure the nuclear sites were destroyed, he said, “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, and that was the goal of this attack.” Pressed again about whether Fordow was damaged or obliterated, he said: “Severely damaged versus obliterated — I’m not exactly sure what the difference is. What we know is we set their nuclear programme back substantially.”

Reiterating what US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said about regime change in Iran, Vance said, "We don't want a regime change. We do not want to protract this... We want to end the nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here."

US enters Iran-Israel war

In a major escalation of tensions in West Asia, the US bombed three nuclear sites - Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan - in Iran and warned the Islamic Republic of more "precision strikes" if it did not end its conflict with Israel. This came days after the US president said that he would decide within ‘two weeks’ if he needs to bomb Iran. The US strike came on the ninth day of Operation Rising Lion, under which Israel hit several nuclear facilities inside Iran, killing top military officials and nuclear scientists. The Israel Defence Forces said that US strikes “were in coordination with the IDF” and it was a “crucial step stopping the Iranian regime's aggression.”

As America entered the war, Donald Trump said that ‘there will either be peace or tragedy.’ "This cannot continue. There will either be peace or tragedy for Iran, far greater than what we have witnessed over the last eight days," Trump told a press briefing at the Oval Office. He also conveyed the goal of the US' strikes, saying, "Our Objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”