Vance rejects claims Trump-Iran deal echoes Obama-era logic as hawks raise alarm

By Fox News · Fox News

Vice President JD Vance is pushing back on comparisons between the emerging Trump-Vance Iran pact and claims that the agreement, released Wednesday, bears too much resemblance to President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal. Critics pointed to Vance’s defense of the memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — the details of which were released by the administration — under which Iran would receive economic benefits only after complying with nuclear restrictions. They argue that dynamic mirrors how Obama promoted the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which Trump and Vance have long reviled. Vance, however, suggested to Fox News that the comparison stems from a misconception because the proverbial carrot-and-stick positions from the Obama deal have been reversed. "You’ve got Iranian propagandists out there saying, well, ‘we get all these things’, and they leave out the fact that they only get those things if they fundamentally transform themselves as a country," he said, adding that the deal could open the door to economic cooperation for Tehran throughout the Mideast if it complies. VANCE EN ROUTE TO PAKISTAN FOR HIGH-STAKES IRAN TALKS AS ‘FRAGILE’ CEASEFIRE TEETERS "So the United States wins either way. As the president said, either they get nothing, we destroy their nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz [is] open , or they fundamentally transformed themselves. And that's a big one too. It's really up to them," he said on "The Five." Host Jesse Watters agreed that the deal is the "exact opposite" of what Obama and former Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., forged a decade ago. VANCE TOUTS DESTRUCTION OF IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM AS TRUMP ANNOUNCES ISRAEL-IRAN CEASEFIRE "If they fund the proxies they don’t get the economic benefits, and the missiles are covered because 85% of them have been destroyed and 90% of their industrial base has been destroyed." "They've been disarmed. They can't re-arm because they can manufacture more weapons and now they…