With Donald Trump vowing to crush the Ayatollah's grip on Iran, JD Vance disclosed the real nuclear nightmare he says is fueling America's showdown with Tehran.
The Vice President said in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the Daily Mail on Tuesday that Trump does not believe Iran is capable of producing a nuclear bomb, but fears the Ayatollah could acquire the technology once the President leaves office.
'What I feel quite confident about is that Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon in the Trump administration,' Vance told the Daily Mail.
'That's how much damage we did to their program,' he added, referring to Operation Midnight Hammer which devastated Iranian uranium enrichment facilities in June.
The Vice President then suggested Trump's real fear is that a 'crazy person' will succeed him in the Oval Office and appease the Islamic Regime which is hellbent on the destruction of Israel and deeply hostile to its allies abroad, including the US.
'Donald Trump is not always going to be president, right? Constitutionally, he's got another few years. Maybe we change the Constitution,' Vance joked.
'But fundamentally, three years down the road, the president is likely, as he said, to leave the Oval Office. Who is the next president? Maybe you get a crazy person in there who doesn't care about Iran having a nuclear weapon.'
JD Vance in an exclusive interview on Tuesday disclosed the real nuclear nightmare he says is fueling America's showdown with Tehran
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with students in Tehran, Iran, November 3
Donald Trump sits behind a bill he signed to end the partial government shutdown, at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 3
The Vice President said that Trump wants 'to create the long term situation that ensures and confirms Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon.'
Vance, an Iraq War veteran, defined his early political career with anti-interventionist rhetoric, railing against regime-change military conflicts in the Middle East.
As a freshman senator from Ohio, Vance criticized the Obama and Bush administrations for wasting American treasure and lives in fruitless drawn-out campaigns.
The Daily Mail pressed Vance on how he squares his crusade against regime change in the Middle East with the Trump administration's move to topple one of the region's most entrenched regimes, and following the capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.
'Well, look, it would obviously be in America's best interest if we were dealing with a rational regime in Iran rather than a group of religious fanatics,' Vance replied. 'That is obviously true.'
Vance then suggested the President would not try to overthrow the Ayatollah if Iran ended its nuclear weapons program.
'The President's main goal in Iran, it's not this or that regime. It's Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,' Vance told the Daily Mail.
'That is what he's always been focused on. He was focused on it in the campaign back in 2015 and 2016.'
'There are different ways to actually accomplish that goal. And that's what the president has been talking about.'
Trump's Middle East peace envoys, son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, are expected to meet with Iranian officials in Oman on Friday for nuclear talks.
The announcement came after reports diplomatic discussions were stonewalled by Tehran over changes in the location and content of the meeting.
