Military is one tool, diplomacy is another: Vance warns against endless Iran bombing

Washington: US Vice President J.D. Vance has defended negotiations with Iran, warning that an open-ended bombing campaign would not secure the Strait of Hormuz or produce lasting stability in the region.

Vance said the Trump administration was combining diplomacy, economic pressure and military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon while keeping energy supplies moving through the strategic waterway.

“The military is one tool, but diplomacy is another tool,” Vance said during an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience. “So you’ve gotta actually be willing to talk and to try to figure out the problem.”

Vance acknowledged that he had initially been less enthusiastic about the US military campaign against Iran. But he said his responsibility as Vice President was to advise President Donald Trump and then implement the President’s decision.

“My approach to this is not to Monday morning quarterback a decision that was made three months ago,” he said. “My approach to it is to try to make it as successful as possible.”

Vance said the administration’s memorandum of understanding with Iran was intended to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, halt violence and create a framework for negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

He said the initial agreement helped restore oil traffic through the strait. But Iranian hardliners later feared that Tehran had surrendered its main source of leverage and resumed attacks on ships.

“What we’re doing is a delicate diplomatic dance where we’re using economic leverage points,” Vance said. “We’re using carrots and sticks. We’re trying to talk to the pragmatists. And then of course, when they commit acts of violence, we’re responding to it.”

He said Iran’s nuclear facilities remained destroyed and enough oil and gas was moving through Hormuz to prevent a global energy crisis. Negotiations over the longer-term nuclear question were continuing, he added.

Vance sharply criticised US foreign policy hawks who oppose talks with Tehran, and favour continued military action.

“I think that their proposal is to bomb and bomb and bomb,” he said. “And the honest view, Joe, is that they, they do not actually have a solution.”

He ruled out deploying US ground forces to overthrow Iran’s government and warned against repeating the consequences of intervention in Libya.

“We’re not gonna send 150,000 ground troops in, in order to accomplish a change in a regime,” Vance said. “We’re not in that business anymore.”

IANS