NEED TO KNOW
- Vice President J.D. Vance declined to confirm President Donald Trump’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and totally obliterated”
- Vance said the United States’ June 21 attacks “set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially”
- Vance’s statements came one day after America bombed three of Iran’s key nuclear facilities, inserting itself in Israel’s war on Iran’s nuclear program
Vice President J.D. Vance offered a conflicting report than President Donald Trump on the state of Iran’s nuclear program.
Following the United States’ June 21 bombing of three of Iran’s key nuclear sites, Trump claimed the country’s nuclear abilities had been “completely and totally obliterated” by American bunker-buster explosives.
Now, officials within the Trump administration — including Vance — are less certain of the attacks’ outcome on Iran’s uranium.
Vance told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that the U.S. “set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially,” but wouldn’t say that the program itself had been destroyed.
“Severely damaged versus obliterated, I’m not exactly sure what the difference is,” Vance said, adding that he didn’t want to get into specific intelligence details.
Karl then asked Vance specifically about Iran’s estimated 900-pound stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and if he knew what had become of the material — which can be made into nine or 10 atomic weapons, per The New York Times.
“We are going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel and that’s one of the things that we’re going to have conversations with the Iranians about,” Vance said of the uranium stockpile.
He added that while he’s unsure of the stockpile’s fate, Iran’s ability to convert the uranium to nuclear weapons had been significantly set back, which he said was the intent of the attacks.
Like Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would not confirm Trump’s claims of total destruction.
During a press briefing on Sunday, the day after the attacks, Hegseth instead noted an initial assessment of damage to the three nuclear sites — including Fordo, Iran’s primary uranium enrichment plant built inside a mountain — indicated “severe damage and destruction,” per NYT.
On Monday, June 23, Iran launched retaliatory missiles at Al-Udeid military base in Qatar. Al-Udeid, which is home to about 10,000 troops, is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East and the forward headquarters for U.S. Central Command.
Explosions were reported near Doha, the capital city of Qatar, where the base is located and the U.S. Embassy issued a “shelter in place” warning to all citizens.
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In a statement on X, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Dr. Majed Al Ansari said, “The State of Qatar strongly condemns the attack that targeted Al-Udeid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. We consider this a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar, its airspace, international law, and the United Nations Charter.”
He said that Qatar’s air defenses “successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles,” adding, “we affirm that Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner equivalent with the nature and scale of this brazen aggression, in line with international law.”
“We also emphasize that the continuation of such escalatory military actions will undermine security and stability in the region, dragging it into situations that could have catastrophic consequences for international peace and security,” the statement continued. “We call for the immediate cessation of all military actions and for a serious return to the negotiating table and dialogue.”
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