US, Iran have made progress toward negotiated settlement: Vance

US Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Washington has made “progress” in talks with Iran, saying he and President Donald Trump feel “pretty good” about reaching a negotiated settlement.

“I actually just spoke with the president of the United States about an hour ago about this,” Vance told reporters. “Look, the president and I both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement. We’re going to keep on working at it.”

“The Iranians are always a little unpredictable, and as the president always says, he retains kinetic options. He retains non-kinetic options, but we’ve certainly made some progress. We’ll see if we can make some more,” he said.

Asked whether Iran had been given a deadline before strikes resume, Vance said: “No, we haven’t set deadlines.”

“Having destroyed their nuclear program, we want to make sure they don’t rebuild it or try to rebuild it. That’s what matters most to the United States,” he said.

“We do think that there is a pathway there, but it really does require a firm commitment and a verifiable commitment that they don’t rebuild that nuclear program,” he added.

Vance's remarks came hours after Trump said at the reopening of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington that Iran wants to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its ninth month.

“They want to make a deal, and that could happen,” Trump said, adding that Iran had asked Washington to stop targeting its leaders, “and we will.”

Tensions in the Middle East have remained high since the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering Iranian retaliation across the region.

Despite subsequent diplomatic efforts and a memorandum signed by Washington and Tehran in June, tensions have persisted over security arrangements and navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.