JD Vance Defends U.S.-Iran Agreement, Challenges Ben Gvir and Smotrich

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is set to brief reporters at the White House on Thursday about a memorandum of understanding signed overnight. Speaking to the New York Times, he said President Donald Trump is prepared to act when he sees a gap between Israel’s political goals and the American public interest, and that Washington will move according to U.S. interests when such disagreements arise.

Vance said he did not believe Benjamin Netanyahu had personally criticized the agreement, because Netanyahu may understand its details better. But he pointed to criticism from Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, saying, “What exactly is your proposal? You are a country of nine million people. You cannot just ‘kill your way out’ of every national security problem you have.”

The document was signed by Trump in France in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, while a scanned copy was sent to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran for his signature. At the same time, Pakistan announced the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the American blockade.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the talks, confirmed the agreement took effect immediately and called it the “Islamabad memorandum of understanding.” He thanked leaders on both sides, including Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, and said Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt contributed to the process.