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Vice President J.D. Vance announced Thursday that 12.5 million barrels of oil have successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting rosier economic news in the wake of a freshly signed preliminary deal with Iran.
“I think the president’s peace plan in Iran is already bearing real fruits for the American people,” he told reporters assembled in the James Brady Briefing Room, during a scheduled press conference. “Last night, 12.5 million barrels of oil went through the Strait of Hormuz. That is a high since the beginning of the conflict. Oil prices are down nearly at their level from the pre-war conflict. Gas prices dropped below $4 a gallon today for the first time since the conflict, and importantly, they’re going to keep falling further, given how low oil prices are.”
Marine traffic data on Thursday appeared to confirm the vice president’s comments, as vessels seem to be moving through the Strait of Hormuz, amid the U.S. Naval blockade being lifted in the region.
“The Iranians, for the second night in a row, did not shoot at any ships in the Strait of Hormuz, so far, they are honoring their end of the commitment,” the vice president said. “And on the blockade, CENTCOM’s allowed north of a dozen ships to go through our Naval blockade, so, we’re also honoring our end of the early part of the agreement.”
Vance said that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely destroyed,” and said their capacity for enrichment and any potential facilities for nuclear development “are still destroyed,” along with their conventional military.
The vice president said that Iran’s capacity to threaten its neighbors was “still largely gone.”
He also addressed criticism of the memorandum of understanding with Iran – a 60-day framework that will allow the U.S. and Iran to hammer out the finer points of a long-term agreement.
Vance remarked, “I’ve seen skeptics of the deal, people say, ‘The Iranians will never change their behavior!’ Well, maybe that’s true, and if so, they don’t get any of the benefits of the bargain—but isn’t it worth trying? Isn’t it worth seeing whether this incredibly weakened position that the President of the United States has put the Iranians under, whether that motivates them to change their behavior?”
The vice president told the media that Iran had committed to destroy their “highly-enriched stockpile” of uranium. He also emphasized that Americans should have “faith” that President Trump would strike a deal that is good for the United States.
“He believes in this deal, he is going to see it to completion, and if the Iranians don’t comply, we still have every single tool and point of leverage that we have today,” Vance declared.