Vance: War aimed at changing Iran’s ‘mindset’ so that they abandon pursuit of nukes

After US officials offered a series of aims for Operation Epic Fury over the last 72 hours, Vice President JD Vance focuses largely on the nuclear threat posed by Iran in an interview with Fox News.

He says the goal of the operation is to change the Iranian “mindset” so that they agree never to pursue a nuclear weapon.

Vance says US President Donald Trump succeeded in preventing Iran from having the ability to build a nuclear weapon until at least the end of his second term through Operation Midnight Hammer targeting Tehran’s three main nuclear facilities last year.

“We set them back substantially, but I think the president was looking for the long haul. He was looking for Iran to make a significant long-term commitment that they would never build a nuclear weapon,” the vice president says.

The US then spent nearly a year trying to negotiate with Iran, but Tehran wouldn’t budge, Vance says.

Trump then realized that achieving his aim “would require, fundamentally, a change in mindset from the Iranian regime,” Vance says.

“He saw that the Iranian regime was weakened, he knew that they were committed to getting on that brink of a nuclear weapon, and he decided to take action because he felt that was necessary in order to protect the nation’s security,” Vance says.

Vance insists that Operation Epic Fury won’t drag out for years because the US has a clear goal.

But US officials have listed a series of goals, including ones related to Iran’s nuclear program, its missile program, its drone program, its support for proxies and the need for regime change.

“There’s just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective,” Vance asserts.

“He’s defined the objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild their nuclear capability,” he adds.