Vice President J.D. Vance said Monday that there were “many” details left to finalize after the United States and Iran reached an interim agreement, but expressed confidence that the United States had “all the cards” in subsequent talks.
Vance told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to be involved in future talks. Iran’s hardline parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is also expected to attend, a move he said could signal that the country’s conservatives support the deal.
The agreement reached Sunday extends the ceasefire between the United States and Iran for 60 days and sets the framework for future negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program and other key issues. The tentative contract has not yet been signed and its contents have not been made public.
Vance told CNBC on Monday morning that the two main pillars of the deal are reopening the Strait of Hormuz and cementing a long-term commitment that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the war was started to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Vance suggested that if Iran honors its commitments in the deal, sanctions and other barriers will be eased in return, allowing Iran to be “invited back into the global economy.”
“I think it’s a great day for the American people,” said Vance, who has been involved in negotiations with Iran throughout the war that began on February 28.
The vice president said that despite the agreement’s expiry date of 60 days, “we hope that the strait will remain free and open for a long time.”
“That will be something we will resolve through technical negotiations,” he said.
“There are a lot of very important details for us to actually sit down at the table and discuss together and figure out a path forward on these details,” Vance said.
The details to be determined in the future are not limited to the Strait. Vance said that while Iran is “committed to destroying and disposing of its stockpile of highly concentrated materials,” there is no established process for doing so.
“And what we said is, okay, let’s talk about how we do that specifically,” he said.
He continued: “They want access to the unauthorized economy. We’ve been talking about, ‘Okay, we’ll accept that,’ but that will require a long-term commitment to the testing and verification regime imposed under this agreement.”
“Many of these details will therefore be revealed during the 60-day consultation,” he said.
“We are very confident that we are in a strong position,” he added.
