U.S. Vice President Says Iran Talks Show Progress, Military Option Remains

U.S. Vance spoke at a White House briefing hours after President Donald Trump stated he had been within an hour of ordering strikes and gave Tehran two or three days to reach an agreement. "A lot of good progress is being made, but we're just going to keep on working at it, and eventually we'll either hit a deal or we won't," Vance told reporters.

Vance said the president has directed diplomacy in good faith and believes Iran wants a deal, but he stressed that any agreement must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "We're in a pretty good spot here — but there's an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign," Vance said.

28. A weeks-long ceasefire is in place, but the sides have not reached a peace agreement, with Iran's nuclear enrichment program remaining a central issue. Trump said Monday that he delayed a planned attack at the request of Gulf states because of what he described as serious negotiations.