JD Vance says Iran deal brings ‘new day,’ no US taxpayer money used
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The proposed US-Iran deal would usher in a “new day” for the Middle East, Vice President J.D. Vance said in an interview published on Hannity on Monday, while addressing whether US taxpayer funds would be used to fund Iran’s potential $300 billion reconstruction fund.
Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Iran could access billions of dollars in funds if it fulfilled obligations outlined in its agreement with the United States.
“The agreement states that they will not receive even a penny of American money,” he said.
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“What the agreement says, Sean, is if the Iranians behave, if sanctions are eased, and if the Iranians integrate into the world economy, we will invite other countries, not us, to invest in their country.”
Vice President J.D. Vance during a dinner in the East Room of the White House on Thursday, November 6, 2025 in Washington, DC, USA. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
US and Iranian officials reached an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end hostilities and address Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. The agreement, known as a memorandum of understanding, is scheduled to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.
The $300 billion fund that the Trump administration is considering for Iran will be financed not by American taxpayers, but by private companies that want to invest in the country.
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While the full terms of the US-Iran peace agreement were not disclosed, Vance emphasized that the agreement was performance-based and said Iran would only be able to access the reconstruction fund if it complied with the terms of the agreement.
“Unless Iranians behave and change their behavior, they don’t get a dime,” he said on “Hannity.”
“If they demonstrate verifiable commitment and that means a genuine audit regime, then they can enjoy the benefits of bargaining.”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Garibabadi said: Tasnim News Agency“This memorandum does not mean trusting the enemy; it was written with active distrust.”
A woman holds an Iranian flag during a religious ceremony during Eid al-Adha in Qom, Iran, on May 26, 2026. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
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The vice president insisted Iran had a “real opportunity” to transform the regime’s tense relationship with the United States and said action over words would be rewarded.
“I think they see that there’s a real opportunity to turn a new page here, as long as they do the right thing,” Vance said.
“If the Iranians are willing to change their ways. If they are willing to act like a normal country, stop producing nuclear weapons, stop trying to finance terrorism all over the Middle East, then we are ready to fundamentally transform our relationship with them.”
Saying that the deal “absolutely” includes a nuclear-free Iran, the vice president explained how the administration plans to eliminate the country’s enriched uranium stockpile.
FILE – This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran on May 20, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP, File)
“What we’re going to do, Sean, is destroy the highly enriched material, the nuclear dust, and we’re going to do that together with the Iranians,” he told Hannity.
“[Trump] “He wants us to work with the Iranians and international organizations to destroy this stockpile of enriched materials.”
According to the Iranian President, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei played a direct role in shaping Iran’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States Massoud Pezeshkian.
Vance, who has taken a leading role in the peace talks, revealed that some Iranian conservatives are beginning to question decades of hostility towards the United States.
“You talk about hardliners and moderates. What’s fascinating to me about their system is that we see even people who I assume are hardliners saying: ‘Maybe it was a mistake for us to do the things we’ve been doing for the last 40 years. Maybe we should turn a new page in relations with the United States,” he said.
In this photo from Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks on a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Hamid FOROUTAN/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)
“We have never had this level of direct communication with the Iranian leadership.”
Vance said that if Iran does not fulfill its commitments, relations between the two countries will return to their previous state.
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“The reason why our Arab allies, our Gulf allies, are so excited about this is because they think this is a new day in the Middle East,” he told Fox News. “But if it still isn’t, then it isn’t. If the Iranians don’t comply, then we will go back to the relationship we had before, where we held all the cards.”
“We have the cards and if they don’t honor the commitment, we’ll decide what to do when we get there.”
