Vice President JD Vance has attempted to explain misleading claims made by Donald Trump, while being interviewed on the president’s favorite TV network.
Vance, 41, went on Fox News’ Hannity, hours after a social media post by Trump, 80, led to confusion over the contents of his peace deal with Iran.
“Iran has agreed to never have a Nuclear Weapon! Also, the story that the U.S. is paying Iran 300 million Dollars is Fake News, put out by the Dumocrats!!!” the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
However, the president got his math wrong, with the memorandum of understanding electronically signed by both himself and Vance on Monday containing a clause requiring the payment to Iran of $300 billion—not $300 million—for reconstruction efforts.
The long-awaited peace deal also includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds and sanction relief, according to U.S officials on Monday. The full document has yet to be released, leading to more confusion over the contents.
Referencing the mixed messaging, Hannity told Vance that ahead of their Monday evening interview he had been reading “that the Qataris are giving [Iran] $300 billion with the signed seal and approval of the U.S.” before referencing Trump’s Truth Social post denying the U.S.-approved payment.
The host asked Vance, “Did the U.S. ever sign off on the Qataris paying them that money?”
Vance replied, “No, the agreement says they are not getting a single dime of American money, that’s just not what this is.”
The vice president then added that the memorandum of understanding states that if the “Iranians behave” and accept sanctions, and are integrated into the world economy, “we would invite other countries, not us, but other countries, to invest in their country. That’s fine, but only if they comply with the terms of the agreement.”
Hannity asked Vance directly if Iran will ever get any payment from America.
“They never get a dime of American taxpayer money ever. Full stop, not even close,” Vance said.
The vice president then stated that there is “a lot of economic benefit in the United States relieving a lot of sanctions and welcoming them back into the world economy. There’s a lot of benefit there, not American money, but there’s a lot of economic prosperity that can flow from that.”
Vance echoed similar sentiments in an CNN interview on The Source with Jake Tapper earlier on Monday.
He told Tapper the memorandum of understanding is “a very general document,” and more specifics of the deal would be ironed out during further negotiations.
“The MOU… is about a page,” Vance said. “On a number of issues, we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase.”
Tapper pointed out that the U.S. said they are willing to talk about unfreezing Iranian assets if they reach certain benchmarks, while Iran stated that the deal unfreezes billions of dollars over 60 days of negotiations.
Vance denied Iran’s claim, stating, “There hasn‘t been a single dollar of sanctions relief or unfrozen assets either from the United States or any of our allies in the Gulf.”
He added he had seen “misreporting” over the issue, which had “overemphasized” what Iran gets out of the deal, without articulating what Iran has to “give up” to access those benefits.
“This agreement contemplates a very significant sanctions relief package for the Iranian people that transforms how they interact with the world and with the region, but they only get that benefit if they meet their obligations under the agreement,” Vance said.
