US Vice President JD Vance said Iran would need tangible measures to demonstrate it would not restore its nuclear capabilities, and that Washington is seeking verifiable commitments rather than assurances as it weighs the next phase of the conflict. In an exclusive interview, Vance said, "The goal here is to prevent the Iranians from having a nuclear weapon, and really to prevent regional nuclear proliferation."

He said Iran's nuclear facilities and enrichment facilities had been destroyed, and that the United States would ensure Tehran could not rebuild those sites or restore its nuclear capacity. "That's fundamentally the goal here, and everything else that's happening, from them terrorising shipping to our response to that, is really a subplot of the much bigger goal of keeping them from having a nuclear weapon."

He accused Iran of trying to use attacks on commercial shipping to pressure Washington and disrupt the global economy, and said the strategy was backfiring. "Every time they try to cause damage to the world economy, they end up causing much greater damage to themselves," Vance said.

He said Washington remained willing to reach an agreement with Tehran, but that any deal would require concrete Iranian action rather than assurances. "What the president has said is, you know, look, from the very beginning, we're willing to strike an agreement where the Iranians commit to not rebuilding their nuclear program and take real steps in order to do that, but it takes two to tango, and we're not going to trade words for actions," Vance said.

"In other words, the United States is not going to do things for mere promise of actions on the Iranian side. We need to trade actions for actions here, and we'll see what the Iranians do."

Vance questioned Tehran's continued enrichment of uranium to 60 percent, saying it was unnecessary for energy production. "If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel?" he said.

"Sixty percent enriched uranium, you know, I'm hardly a nuclear scientist, but I've learned this: you don't need that for any energy production. You don't need it for anything except to have threshold weapons-grade uranium."

He said Washington was dealing with Iran's political leadership, including its foreign minister, but was not entirely certain how decisions were being made inside Tehran. He said some people in Iran wanted an agreement while others were trying to sabotage a deal, that he was involved in the talks, and that President Donald Trump was ultimately directing the process and setting the administration's objectives.

Vance said the United States was also seeking to prevent a wider nuclear arms race, because an Iranian nuclear weapon could prompt other countries in the region to pursue their own. "So, you know, you don't want the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon.

You also don't want to radically increase the number of nuclear weapons in the world," he said. Asked about reports of a possible Iranian operation against the US-linked RAF Fairford air base in Britain, Vance declined to discuss classified intelligence, and said Washington was aware of Iranian efforts to target American assets around the world.

"I'm not going to speak to classified intelligence. Nothing has happened yet," he said.

"We're very aware that the Iranians are trying to conduct strikes against American assets all over the world."