US Vice President JD Vance said in a press briefing on Tuesday that "a lot of progress" has been made in talks on a deal with Iran, but added that the US remains "locked and loaded" to resume attacks on Iran if talks fail.
"We think that we've made a lot of progress. We think the Iranians want to make a deal," the Vice President said, while reiterating the core US demand that Iran never obtain a nuclear weapon.
"We are not going to have a deal that allows the Iranians to have a nuclear weapon," Vance stated.
"There's an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign to continue to prosecute the case, to continue to try to achieve America's objectives," he continued. "That's not what the president wants. And I don't think it's what the Iranians want either."
Vance added that Tehran's negotiating position is unclear, and that the country's leadership is fractured.
“It’s not sometimes totally clear what the negotiating position of the team is, and I don’t know if that’s sometimes bad communication, if that’s bad faith," he said.
Asked about reports that Iran’s enriched uranium could be transferred to Russia as part of a deal, Vance replied that is not an idea currently being considered by the US, nor was it requested by Tehran.
Vance’s press briefing took place a day after President Trump revealed in a post on Truth Social that the US was planning on striking Iran on Tuesday, but postponed the attack because of what he referred to as "serious negotiations" were being held.
Speaking to reporters later in the day, Trump said, “We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow. I've put it off for a little while, hopefully, maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we've had very big discussions with Iran, and we'll see what they amount to."
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump asserted that he was "an hour away" from ordering a strike on Iran before he called off the attack.
"I hope we don't have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit," he added. "I'm not sure yet. You'll know very soon."
Trump accused Iran of wanting a nuclear weapon "to blow up the Middle East and, frankly, to blow up the world. It's not gonna happen."