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US Vice President JD Vance said that negotiations with Iran in Doha, Qatar, are progressing positively, with technical-level discussions underway and talks on the nuclear issue set to begin soon, as per CNN.
Speaking to CNN on Wednesday (local time) after remarks to US service members in Virginia, Vance said, "It's still pretty early, but talks are going well." "Well, right now, the technical negotiators are sitting down with the Iranians, with the Qataris, and with others in Doha, talking about some of the details here," he said. "We're worried about the nuclear issue. We're going to start talking about that, so right now the talks are going well," Vance added. Meanwhile, speaking at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Vance thanked US military personnel and said the ongoing negotiations with Iran were taking place from a position of strength. He said the talks had been possible "not out of weakness" but "out of strength." Vance also contrasted the current US approach toward Iran with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing that President Donald Trump would only authorise military action with clearly defined objectives. "[Trump's] negotiating from a position where Iran's nuclear program has been destroyed and their conventional military has been destroyed too, and what I notice about the people who are attacking the administration for negotiating is that they're the very same people who, for example, encouraged us to just go a little bit further and just drop a few more bombs in places like Afghanistan," Vance said. "Now, the president of the United States maintains a lot of options today in 2026, but if he ever asks you to go and drop bombs, it's going to be for something specific," he added. Meanwhile, on Wednesday (local time), US President Donald Trump claimed that the "denuclearisation" of Iran was going "well", expressing optimism about the diplomatic process with the Islamic Republic despite the absence of Iran from direct high-level negotiations involving senior US officials in Qatar. Speaking to reporters as he departs for North Dakota to visit the newly built Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, Trump said discussions on Iran's nuclear programme had progressed positively following recent military action on the Islamic Republic over strikes on transiting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. The US President also asserted that Iran had changed its position following the recent strikes. "They've come a long way. We hit them very hard last week. They're fine. We're going to get it. It's the denuclearisation of Iran," he said. Reiterating Washington's longstanding position on Tehran's nuclear ambitions, Trump said Iran would not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon. "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Otherwise, all of this stuff that we look at, all of these things that we do, the country has never had activity like it's got right now," he said. Trump's remarks come even as Iranian officials have not participated in direct high-level talks with the United States in Doha, Qatar. (ANI)
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