U.S. Vice President Jay D. Vance stated yesterday, Thursday, during a television interview, that the U.S. government’s “number one priority” in its dealings with Iran is to keep fuel prices low, while preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons—something Tehran has denied for decades it ever intended to do—is the “second priority.”
“The price of oil has fallen and is much lower than the highs it reached at the start of the armed conflict. “That is objective number one: to ensure that oil and gasoline remain affordable for Americans,” the U.S. vice president told Fox News.
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“And then the second objective is, of course, to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” Vance added, assuring that “we are on track to achieve these two goals.”
The Republican vice president is considered one of the most skeptical members of Donald Trump’s administration regarding the war in the Middle East, which erupted with the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
However, with his statements yesterday, he appeared to align himself with the wait-and-see stance that President Trump is now said to have adopted, so that the economic pressure Washington is exerting on Tehran will yield the results it expects.
“Sometimes we focus on the energy aspect (…) Sometimes on the military aspect, on the nuclear program,” Jay D. Vance added, assuring that the U.S. president has “many tools” at his disposal and is using them in a “very selective, very strategic” manner.
Vice President Vance’s presentation, however, seems strikingly different from that of President Trump, who said at the start of the war that his primary goal was to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, at the cost, if necessary, short-term economic sacrifices by Americans.
The Trump administration is opting for economic pressure as the diplomatic route appears to be closed. Both Washington and Tehran are sticking to their positions and the conditions they’ve set for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, regarding his military options, President Trump, according to reports in the American press, is forced to take into account the alarmingly rapid depletion of stockpiles of certain types of precision-guided and long-range missilesand other types of weapons.
Source: Proto Thema
