Vance takes lead selling Trump’s Iran gamble as Rubio, Hegseth and Ratcliffe cede spotlight on fragile deal
Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland this week as the Trump administration’s most visible defender of a fragile Iran memorandum of understanding, even as officials moved to tamp down...
By Fox News · Fox News
Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland this week as the Trump administration’s most visible defender of a fragile Iran memorandum of understanding, even as officials moved to tamp down reports of internal concern over whether Tehran can be trusted to follow through on nuclear concessions. "If it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance. If it does happen, I’m taking full credit," joked President Donald Trump this month of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran. The MOU, signed last week, has not resolved the core dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, but instead opened a 60-day negotiating window aimed at turning broad commitments into enforceable terms — leaving Vance to defend a framework that supporters call a diplomatic opening for sustained stability in the region and skeptics fear could give Tehran room to stall. While Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have been central to previous high-profile foreign policy missions, Vance spent last week as one of the administration’s chief public advocates for the Iran deal, repeatedly fielding questions about the negotiations during a media blitz for his new book. JD VANCE REVEALS DETAILS OF US-IRAN DEAL, ADDRESSES WHETHER TAXPAYER MONEY WILL GO TO TEHRAN A senior U.S. official told Fox News Digital earlier this month that there was a "split" inside the administration on support of the Iran MOU but wouldn't say which officials did not support the decision. The talks have been fragile for weeks, with the MOU serving less as a breakthrough than a temporary framework while U.S. officials continue to wrestle with whether Iran can be trusted to follow through on nuclear commitments. CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly emerged as a key intelligence leader who expressed doubt about the intelligence behind the Iran deal to Trump and other senior officials, Axios reported. Rubio and Hegseth also reportedly held reservations, while Vance and other officials…