Not a war, but a warning: JD Vance frames Iran strike as strategic reset

A day after the US struck Iran's nuclear facilities , American Vice President JD Vance said that his country is not at war with Iran but with Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. In an interview with NBC News, Vance made it clear that the US does not want a wider conflict in West Asia. However, he declined to confirm with 100 per cent confidence that Iran’s nuclear sites had been destroyed in the American strikes.

In the late hours of Saturday, the US, for the first time, directly attacked Iran, prompting concerns over whether attacks could drag the US into a wider war. Hours later, Iran launched strikes against Israel, causing severe damage in Tel Aviv.

More from World

What are Iran’s options after US strikes? Will Tehran bomb American military bases? Inside Pickaxe Mountain, Iran’s new nuclear lair that could evade US bombs

“We’re not at war with Iran,” Vance told NBC on Sunday evening. “We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program.” After declining to confirm whether he is 100 per cent certain that Iran’s nuclear sites were destroyed, Vance said that the United States has “substantially delayed” Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

“I’m not going to get into sensitive intelligence about what we’ve seen on the ground there in Iran, but we’ve seen a lot, and I feel very confident that we’ve substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon, and that was the goal of this attack," Vance said.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

Trump thinks otherwise

While both US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Vance made it clear that the operation was strictly targeted at Iran’s nuclear sites, US President Donald Trump hinted at a different objective. On Sunday, the POTUS raised the prospect of regime change in Iran and defended his claim that its nuclear enrichment sites had been “totally obliterated” by US strikes over the weekend.

In his post on TruthSocial, Trump said that sites, which were struck by GBU-57 “bunker buster” bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles on Saturday night, sustained “monumental damage”, adding: “The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!”

He also pointed to the possibility of regime change in Tehran if the country’s leaders were unable to “make Iran great again”, going further than remarks by his senior officials. The remarks were made a day after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the mission “was not and has not been about regime change” but instead “a precision operation” targeting Iran’s nuclear programme.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said the US strikes revealed Washington was “behind” Israel’s campaign against the Islamic Republic and vowed a response. Soon after his proclamation, Iran unleashed a massive missile attack on Israel in retaliation. The world is still assessing how Tehran will tackle American aggression.