JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance has warned that if Iran retaliates against US military strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites, it would be 'a catastrophic mistake.'
The Iranian nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan were damaged following U.S. aerial attacks overnight.
Responding to it, Iran's top armed forces commander said, Iran 'will never back down.'
A spokesperson for the armed forces' central command, Ibrahim Zolfaqari, was quoted by media as saying Iran would respond with 'powerful and targeted operations that will inflict heavy, regretful, and unpredictable consequences.'
'We're prepared in the event the that the Iranians do retaliate, but . if the Iranians want to enlarge this by attacking American troops, I think that would be a catastrophic mistake,' JD Vance said at NBC News' Meet the Press program.
Vance insisted that Washington has no interest in a protracted conflict. 'We have no interest in boots on the ground. The President has actually been one of the fiercest critics of 25 years of failed foreign policy in the Middle East, which is why he did what he did - a very precise, a very surgical strike tailored to an American national interest.'
On the precision strikes, the Vice President said, 'We do not want war with Iran. We actually want peace, but we want peace in the context of them not having a nuclear weapons program - and that's exactly what the President accomplished last night.'
Blaming the Iranians for not giving diplomacy a real chance, Vance said, 'They were trying to draw this process out as long as possible so they could rebuild their nuclear weapons program without the threat of American action.'
Contrary to President Donald Trump indicating the possibility of regime change in Iran, his deputy made it clear that Washington doesn't want a regime change. 'We want to end their nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement.'
Trump on Sunday claimed that US B-2 stealth bombers launched from Missouri 'obliterated' three Iranian nuclear sites. In a message he posted on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said 'the hits were hard and accurate.'
The global oil supply has not been significantly affected so far, but oil futures increased by around 10 percent, as Iran's decision to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has triggered concerns. It is estimated that oil tankers carrying around 20 million barrels of oil transit through the strategically important shipping route in the Middle East daily. That amounts to 20 percent of oil produced worldwide per day.
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