Vice President JD Vance has launched a media blitz to build support for President Trump’s Iran peace deal, which the president announced Sunday. On Tuesday, Vance appeared on ABC’s “The View” and Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s program, where he faced pointed questions from a skeptical conservative audience.
During the “The View” appearance, Vance attempted to steer the conversation toward his new book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.” “Let’s talk about books,” Vance said. “I’m here to sell books.” But the discussion quickly returned to the Iran accord.
Vance, who was preceded in the national conversation by hawkish conservative critics alleging the White House was being duped by Iran, pushed back calmly and persistently. “They are proposing an endless conflict,” Vance said of the critics. “They want this to go on until every bomb has been dropped or until every Iranian is dead. That’s not what the President of the United States wants.”
The vice president’s task has been complicated by the fact that the fine print of the deal has not been released. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a draft would allow Iran to sell oil, and Iranian tankers have already been permitted to depart through the U.S. blockade. That lack of clarity has amplified concerns from several conservative lawmakers who backed Trump’s war against Tehran but now fear the accord hands Iran a victory.
According to the Journal, these lawmakers worry the deal does not go far enough to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and that the economic relief on the table will allow the regime to rebuild its conventional weapons stockpile.
Vance must calm those critics if the deal is to feel like a win for Americans, the Journal reported. The confusion surrounding what is in the agreement has made his sales pitch even more challenging.