BUDAPEST, April 7. /TASS/. The United States has achieved most of its military objectives in Iran, and the war will be over soon, Vice President JD Vance said.
He also threatened Tehran with the use of tools Washington had never before used in the military operation.
Vance also told a news conference that Washington is aware of Kiev’s attempts to interfere in the US and Hungarian polls and touched upon the subject of the Ukrainian settlement. He said that reaching peace in the shortest order meets the interests of the United States, Europe and Ukraine.
TASS has compiled the key statements of the American vice-president.
Attack on Iran and its fallout
"The United States has largely accomplished its military objectives" in Iran, and the war will soon be over: "There are still some things that we’d like to do, for example, an Iranian ability to manufacture weapons that we’d like to do a little bit more work on militarily. But fundamentally, the military objectives of the United States have been completed. So that means, as the president [of the US Donald Trump] has said, very shortly, this war is going to conclude."
The United States wants global oil and natural gas trade to continue unhindered after the end of the US-Israel operation against the Islamic Republic: "I hope we will get a right answer. Because we really want an international community with a free oil and gas trade to exist."
Washington still has some aces up its sleeve to use against Iran: "So, they’ve got to know: we’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use. The President of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct."
The Ukrainian settlement
It is diplomacy, not threats or tough talk that are needed to settle the conflict in Ukraine. The United States will continue to be involved in its settling.
The United States hears a lot of talk in the European capitals about the need to settle the crisis in Ukraine and agrees: "We have seen so much talk in European capitals about the need to end the war in Russia and Ukraine, and we certainly agree with it."
The soonest possible peace agreement on Ukraine meets the interests of Washington, Brussels and Kiev: "I really believe it’s in the best interest of Ukraine, the best interest of Europe and Hungary, the best interest of the United States for this war to come to as rapid of a close as possible."
Kiev’s threats against Hungary
Washington is aware of Kiev’s special services’ attempts to interfere in the American and Hungarian polls: "We're certainly aware that there are elements within the Ukrainian intelligence services that tried to put their thumb on the scale of American elections, on Hungarian elections. This is just what they do. This is one of the penalties of working with some elements of their system. I try to remind myself that Ukraine, like the United States, is a very complex nation. There are good people there and there are bad people."
Vance said he is unaware of Vladimir Zelensky’s threats to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban: "I never knew that Zelensky threatened Viktor Orban. I know that many people have threatened Viktor and, to be honest, not only threatened the people of Hungary, but, in fact, threatened the people of Hungary to carry certain costs because their leadership was one of the few, which was wise and reasonable enough in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine."