In a high-stakes media blitz spanning the last 24 hours, US Vice President JD Vance has positioned himself as the administration’s primary advocate for the controversial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran.
Vance, often seen as the face of the Trump administration’s “America First” foreign policy, spent the day moving from one major network to another, seeking to shape the narrative surrounding the agreement.
“This is a big day for the American people – a big win for everybody who cares about basic peace and stability in the Middle East,” Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview that set the tone for the administration’s campaign.
The vice president’s rhetoric marks a significant departure from previous “maximum pressure” policies, focusing instead on the prospect of Iran rejoining the international community.
“The president of the United States doesn’t want just a nuclear deal, as much as that’s a win for the American people,” Vance explained to NBC. He emphasized that the administration is seeking a broader transformation of the Iranian state.
“We’re willing to give significant sanctions relief if the Iranians make the kind of long-term commitments that are necessary to be a normal country,” he told Fox News.
Vance says no US taxpayer money will go to Iran
Vance was also quick to address concerns about the use of American taxpayer funds.
“We’re not giving them American money,” he stated flatly. “Not a single dollar of American money will go to Iran.”
Instead, Vance has framed the agreement as an economic benefit for American consumers. By de-escalating tensions in the Gulf, he argued, the deal has already contributed to improved global economic conditions.
“Fundamentally, this deal immediately reopens the Strait of Hormuz,” Vance said, pointing to a sharp decline in energy prices. “You already see oil prices from a high of $126 a barrel down to about $80 a barrel today.”
For an Israeli public and government deeply wary of the latest developments, Vance offered a mixture of reassurance and criticism. While acknowledging the friction inherent in the US-Israel relationship, he maintained that the MoU ultimately serves Israel’s interests.
“Israel has been a good partner; sometimes, one side fires and the other side responds,” he told CBS, referring to the recent cycle of exchanges between Jerusalem and Tehran. “But what we fundamentally believe is that this is going to be a good deal for the people of Israel and for the people of the Gulf.”
Trump administration claims MoU is a good deal for Israel, despite pushback
Vance suggested that the skepticism voiced by Israeli politicians is based on incomplete information.
“There’s a lot of misreporting I’ve seen in the Israeli media about what’s actually in the deal,” he told ABC, adding that some of the reporting appears to rely on information originating from Iranian media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “But we believe it’s a good deal for the people of Israel.”
Vance’s and US President Donald Trump’s narrative has exposed a widening rift within the GOP’s foreign-policy establishment. While Vance describes a Tehran that is prepared to “change its ways” and “stop trying to fund terrorism all over the Middle East,” Senator Lindsey Graham has cautioned that the United States must “understand who we are dealing with” – a sentiment Vance addressed directly by urging the senator “not to believe the hardliner propaganda in Iran.”
Vance also argued that a new generation of Iranian leaders has grown weary of decades of isolation.
“We’re seeing even people that I would have assumed are hardliners who are kind of saying, ‘You know what? Maybe it was a mistake for us to do the things that we’ve done over the last 40 years,’” Vance claimed.
“You see people saying, ‘Our relationship with the United States over the past 47 years has been a mistake. Let’s turn over a new leaf.’”
Political analysts note that Vance’s nonstop media appearances –contrasted with the relative silence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – signal another phase in the emerging debate over who will succeed Trump as the Republican standard-bearer in 2028. By taking ownership of the Iran MoU, Vance is telling the Republican base that he is the leading heir to Trump’s political legacy.
Axios reported on Monday that during internal administration discussions, Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe expressed concerns and raised questions about the Memorandum of Understanding. According to the report, Ratcliffe told Trump and other senior officials that intelligence gathered by US agencies raises serious doubts about Iran’s willingness to make the nuclear concessions that Washington is seeking in a final agreement.
For now, the vice president remains the administration’s lead salesman for the deal. The stakes, however, could not be higher. Should Tehran use sanctions relief to fund its regional proxies or advance its centrifuge program, Vance’s critics – including foreign-policy hawks within his own party – will be ready to pounce.