Vice President JD Vance, in an interview with NBC’s Tom Llamas, said resuming nuclear inspections will be part of the deal to end the war with Iran. “In fact, one of the core parts of the agreement is that the [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly,” Vance said. “There are some technical details to work out, not related to the text of the MOU itself, but the implementation,” Vance said about the text of the deal, to be published Friday after it is signed. “We talked with the Iranians and consulted with a number of folks in the region – the Qataris and the Pakistanis were very helpful in mediating this particular deal – and that’s when the president decided that he wanted to come out with it.” Here’s the full transcript:

TOM LLAMAS: Mr. Vice President, we thank you for your time. You have said you’ve signed this agreement with Iran digitally. President Trump says the text will be released after Friday. If it’s already signed, why not make it public now? VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: Well, there are some technical details to work out, not related to the text of the MOU itself, but the implementation. And we talked with the Iranians and consulted with a number of folks in the region, the Qataris and the Pakistanis, who were very helpful in mediating this particular deal. And that’s when the president decided that he wanted to come out with it. We can talk, of course, about what’s in the agreement, but the text will be released on Friday after the formal signing ceremony. And that really is just respecting the diplomatic sensitivities that helped bring this agreement together. LLAMAS: Let’s talk about the Strait of Hormuz right now. Iran’s foreign ministry is saying while it will not charge tolls, they will charge ship fees for navigation and other charges to use the strait. Is this allowed in the new deal? VANCE: Well, first of all, what the deal says is that for the 60 days that we’re negotiating the final deal, there will be toll-free access in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. So it’s very clear here that what some elements within Iran are going to say is they’re going to try to emphasize or overemphasize certain benefits that the Iranians get while underemphasizing what the United States gets. They’re also going to represent certain things in a way that’s most favorable to them. I think we have to recognize that this is what happens in an agreement like this. But fundamentally, our job as Americans in a democratic body is to tell the truth. And the truth is that the tolls will not be charged. The Strait of Hormuz will be open. And by the way, we’re already seeing a substantial increase in toll-free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. So I would judge this less by what the Iranians say and more by what’s actually happening. And we see a massive increase already in oil that’s coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, which is why the price is down from a high of over $ 120 to about $ 83 today. LLAMAS: But these fees for navigation, are those going to exist, or is this something that the Iranians are inventing? 2:27 – VANCE: You know, this is one of these things that the Iranians have talked about that we haven’t discussed. Again, we expect access to the Strait of Hormuz to be toll-free. There was at one point a conversation where somebody said, well, what if a ship breaks down, and is it appropriate to charge a service fee if you have to tow a ship? That’s a totally different conversation, and that may be what the Iranians are talking about. But again, we’ve been quite clear with them that we are not going to allow a system where ships are charged for transiting the Strait of Hormuz. We haven’t seen any pushback to that. And again, I’d ask you to judge by the actions and not by the words. It may have been, you know, a random person who was trying to overemphasize the benefits of this agreement to the Iranians. What we’re already seeing is a massive increase in toll-free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. That’s going to continue in the weeks to come. LLAMAS: Will nuclear inspectors be allowed back in? VANCE: Yes, absolutely. That’s, in fact, one of the core parts of the agreement, is that the IAEA and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile. And that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly in the MOU. Now, here’s an interesting just structural background point, I think, about this that’s important for the American people to understand: There are a lot of contemplated benefits in this MOU for the Iranians. There’s a complete transformation of their economy, their sanctions relief. But all of these benefits only happen if the Iranians comply with their end of the bargain. We sort of set this up where we could reward the Iranians for good behavior, where if they do the things that they’re promising, they destroy the enriched stockpile of uranium in consultation with others, they commit long term to a verifiable pathway to where they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, they actually promote regional stability rather than funding regional terrorism, all these things happen, the Iranians get a lot of benefits out of this negotiation. But if none of those things happen, then the Iranians don’t get any of those benefits. And that’s really how we make them honest. This is an agreement, fundamentally, that I think is going to transform the Middle East, but it’s built around verification. LLAMAS: I get that, Mr. Vice President. I do want to ask you, is there a date? Has a date been set on when inspectors will be allowed into Iran? VANCE: Well, that’s one of the things we’re going to talk about on Friday when everybody gets together, signs this agreement, and kicks off the technical negotiations. But our expectation is that actually, because there’s broad agreement on this, there isn’t a whole lot of disagreement on this particular issue. That should happen very quickly. And again, if the Iranians comply, benefits will flow to them, and that’s what we hope to see. We want them to behave like a normal country. We want them to have a successful country, but only if they do what’s necessary to commit long term to not building a nuclear weapon. LLAMAS: I want to ask you about that. You mentioned this morning a $ 300 billion reconstruction fund that would be paid for by Gulf states to Iran, right? What specifically does Iran have to do to get that money? VANCE: Well, first of all, that’s fundamentally between the Gulf states and Iran. What we have said is, again, that if the Iranians are behaving like a normal country, and if they make their country investable, then the Gulf Arab states are going to decide, may decide, to invest in that country, invest in their infrastructure, invest in their incredible resources. But I think it’s important: Not a single dime of that money comes from the United States. And in order for Iran to get that benefit, they have to show the Gulf Arab states that they’re behaving like a normal country. Again, the whole concept of this deal is that if Iran acts like a normal country, their economic relationship both with the region but the world is going to be totally transformed. The president of the United States doesn’t want just a deal on the nuclear. As much as that’s a win for the American people, he wants to see a transformed Middle East, which is what this deal will do so long as the Iranians comply. And if they don’t, they won’t get any of the benefits. LLAMAS: Mr. Vice President, you’re speaking to the American people right now. I want to understand this in the simplest terms. What does Iran need to do before they can be rewarded? What do they have to do to get that money? Do they have to give up their enriched uranium? VANCE: Well, we’re going to stagger it, right? So giving up the enriched stockpile of uranium, that’s the thing that we have focused the most on. They will get benefits for doing that. The cessation of funding of terrorist organizations, they will get benefits from that. Making their country investable, they will get benefits from that. So what this is set up as is, as they perform their end of the bargain, then more and more benefits flow to them. If they do less, then less, potentially nothing, flows to them. And that’s the way that we’ve set it up. So we’re going to figure out some of the details in these technical negotiations. But the basic principle is: Iran behaves like a normal country, they get treated like a normal country, with great benefits and prosperity accruing to the whole region. LLAMAS: This deal sounds familiar to some, including to President Obama, who said this in a new interview. I want to play it for you. BARACK OBAMA: It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for for a long stretch of time. LLAMAS: What do you say to the former president? VANCE: Well, first of all, I just think that’s fundamentally not right. If you go back to the JCPOA, what it did is it took an Iranian nuclear program that had accelerated, and it basically bribed the Iranians to stop that program. We’re in a totally different position here. The Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed. And what we’re saying is: Make the long-term commitment not to rebuild it, and you will get the benefits that come with that. There’s a second major difference between the JCPOA and this Trump peace plan, and it’s this: The Gulf Arab countries, the countries that have been threatened the most by the Iranian regime over the past 47 years, they hated the JCPOA because they felt that it empowered Iran to be a bad regional actor. Do you know what those same countries say about the Trump peace plan? They say that it’s amazing, because it transforms the Middle East in a way that makes them more peaceful and more prosperous. So I think the fact that Iran’s closest neighbors see this agreement as turning over a new leaf when they saw the JCPOA as a disaster is, I think, the best sign that we have something that is fundamentally different here. We’re not bribing the Iranians to do anything. What we’re saying is: Your program has been destroyed. Make the serious commitment, the verifiable commitment, that you’re not going to rebuild it, and you can change your relationship with the United States forever. LLAMAS: Did the new ayatollah sign off on this deal? VANCE: Well, of course, their system is very unusual. But yes, they can’t make an agreement without at least the support or the buy-in of the leadership of their government. You know, our understanding of how their system works is that you have the IRGC, you have the political leadership, and of course you have the clerical folks who are led by the ayatollah. Our understanding is that their system has buy-in, or they would not have signed this agreement as they did. LLAMAS: Finally, the president has had some sharp words for Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. He’s called him crazy, ungrateful, lacking judgment. He’s used some expletives while saying that. And then you have Netanyahu today saying something very different about this agreement, saying that with or without an agreement, they’re not going to change their posturing. Why did the U.S. and Israel get so sideways on this issue? VANCE: Well, I think fundamentally, the United States, we have our interests. Israel is often a good partner. We also have aligned interests, but also sometimes we’re going to disagree on issues from time to time. And I think that’s totally reasonable. Even our closest allies, from the United Kingdom to Israel, we sometimes have disagreements. What the president has said, and he said it very clearly, is that we expect the region to comply with this agreement. We’ve got a lot of great buy-in from our Gulf Arab partners. We’ve got a great deal with the Iranians. We’ve obviously got to — LLAMAS: But do you have buy-in from Israel, Mr. Vice President, to ensure they comply? … But do you have buy-in from Israel? Isn’t that a critical player in all of this? VANCE: Well, what we know is that this agreement is going to make Israel safer. It’s going to make the entire region safer. And what I’ve seen is a lot of misinformation about this agreement. I’ve seen it sometimes in the Iranian media. I’ve seen it sometimes in the Israeli media. We believe quite firmly that when the Israeli people understand what’s in this agreement, they’re going to see this, too, as a pathway to a new Middle East, to peace and prosperity in that region. That’s all we can really ask for. We feel quite confident the Israelis are going to be bought in on this.

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