US Vice President JD Vance denied that the blunt statements given by President Donald Trump had derailed negotiations with Iran over the weekend, despite briefly disrupting discussions and a sharp condemnation from Tehran.
“No, they didn’t throw a wrench in the system,” Vance told reporters in Obbürgen after concluding talks with Iranian officials.
Trump, who spent the weekend at Camp David, issued a series of warnings while negotiations were underway. In remarks to Fox News, he threatened renewed military action against Iran if Tehran failed to restrain Hezbollah and warned Iranian officials against any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Trump, he told Iranian officials: “You won’t have a country” and “you won’t even make it back to your f****** country” if they followed through on threats against the strategic waterway.
The president also said: “I’ll blow the s*** out of them.”
Vance acknowledged that the comments caused some tension during the talks but insisted they did not halt the diplomatic process.
“There was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining, but at the end of the day, the talks continued, and we made great progress,” he said.
The vice president said US negotiators had made clear to the Iranian side that Trump would respond publicly whenever he believed Tehran was making inaccurate or provocative statements.
“What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call trash talk, you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.
The comments came after a lengthy round of discussions between American and Iranian delegations in Switzerland, where negotiators reported progress on several issues, including the return of international nuclear inspectors, maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz, and mechanisms aimed at preventing escalation in Lebanon.
