President Donald Trump’s peace deal with Iran is fundamentally different from former President Barack Obama’s infamous Iran nuclear deal, Vice President JD Vance explained to members of the media on Thursday.
President Trump signed a copy of a Memorandum of Understanding Wednesday evening – aimed at ending the U.S. conflict with Iran – during a dinner at the Palace of Versailles. The text of the Memorandum of Understanding has since been released, stating that both countries “have jointly agreed, in good faith” to a variety of terms. The full text can be found here.
When asked to highlight the differences between Trump’s plan and Obama’s, Vance began:
You have to remember, in 2015 Iran had built a sophisticated nuclear weapons program with a nuclear weapon stockpile, so the perspective that we came at as the United States was, you already have a really nice nuclear program; we’re going to bribe you with American money in order to stop it.
Our perspective, and where we’re coming at it, is we already destroyed your nuclear program, and so if you promise and show verifiable pathways to not rebuild it, then we are willing to give you some sanctions relief, and things like that.
Vance noted that this a “fundamentally different perspective,” while highlighting that the differences do not end there. For instance, Obama’s deal allowed nuclear enrichment, and Trump’s does not.
“Now, there are all these substantive differences as well,” he said. “The Obama nuclear deal allowed enrichment; ours will not. The Obama deal allowed the accumulation of stockpiled weapons-grade material. Ours is actually leading to the destruction of that stockpile of enriched material.”
The Trump deal reads in part [emphasis added]:
The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpiled enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon, in accordance with the schedule mentioned in paragraph 7, with the minimum methodology to be down blending on-site, under the supervision of the IAEA. The two Parties also agree to discuss the issue of enrichment, and other mutually agreed matters related to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear needs, based on a satisfactory framework being agreed upon in the final Deal. The final Deal will confirm the provisions of this paragraph. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledge the critical importance of the nuclear issues above mentioned and express their intentions to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.
“So, there are many differences,” Vance continued, also pointing to the fact that Obama’s deal gave Iran over a billion dollars.
The Vice President said, “The Obama deal gave them over a billion dollars of American money. The deal gives them $0 of American money. So, a lot of substantive differences, but I think the most important differences are where we’re coming at it from: a position of strength, and the fact that our Gulf Coast partners love this deal.”
WATCH the presser below: