U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said President Donald Trump is pursuing a “grand bargain” with Iran rather than what he described as “a small deal”, as negotiations continue under a fragile ceasefire between the two sides.
Speaking at an event in the U.S. state of Georgia on Tuesday, Vance said the ceasefire, now “six or seven days old”, was holding.
“What’s interesting about this is that we have this ceasefire that’s in place… The ceasefire is holding,” he said.
Vance said Trump does not want to make “a small deal”.
“He wants to make the grand bargain,” Vance said, adding that the president was offering Iran a straightforward proposal. “If you’re willing to act like a normal country, we are willing to treat you economically like a normal country.”
He said a final agreement had not yet been reached because Trump was seeking a deal under which “Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.”
“The reason why the deal is not yet done is because the president, he really wants a deal where Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
Vance added that negotiations would continue and expressed optimism about the potential impact of a successful agreement.
“We’re going to keep on negotiating and try to make it happen, because it would be great for the world. It’d be great for our country, it’d be great for everybody,” he said.
He acknowledged that there remained “a lot of mistrust” between the United States and Iran.
“You’re not going to solve that problem overnight,” Vance said, adding that Trump had instructed negotiators to act “in good faith”. “That’s what we did. That’s what we’re going to keep on doing.”