This might be

When I went down there,

>> what's happening?

>> The sealage is already starting to

disconnect.

>> Oh, just by July 4th, it's going to be

quite

>> so.

It look like a spotted cloud. Some blue

areas, some white areas.

loose.

>> Actually, I'm going to

Sorry about that.

cut.

That's the

>> [clears throat]

>> Uh,

>> nope. Uh, yes. Yes.

Just a year

I don't

get

>> you.

totally

not

They expect one person to cover a

tournament.

What do you think?

In

fact,

those lawmakers

deal

like

perfect ideas.

What are those travelers?

Oh my god.

>> Yeah. No, I was surprised.

>> No charge. Really? I was really shocked.

>> No, I lost my

bonus.

>> Right. Right. It used to be that

phone,

you know, whatever.

>> It works, too.

>> They want to check out

especially

really

>> five countries so far.

>> I don't remember the name.

>> Maybe it's my base. I mean, I don't

know. Probably my base.

I have an unlimited plan of some sort.

>> That's great.

I already lost my wallet.

Look here.

Yes, sir.

>> [clears throat]

>> forget what we're doing.

on top of

Hey,

how are you?

What's going on?

Yeah.

>> I'm not sure why.

What are the horses?

like this.

>> Yes.

Okay, cool.

I think in his

I'm pretty sure it's

still like

>> when I was

a little worried

What I want to do is I want to go

to

>> So I'm just kind of like

so

ecos

want to keep going, but I'm like a

terrible thing.

>> I know, but

>> no, we almost went for like the

anniversary thing. They invited alumni,

but I didn't get there.

>> I mean, look, I went I went to one year

sprout. I didn't like it.

just like

time hill.

>> Next time they do like a family weekend

or something.

>> Timing didn't work out the last time.

nothing else

in that area.

>> I think in like two years we'll probably

just like put them in Sprout.

Top is

the old

>> favorite. He's definitely my favorite.

I almost

found out.

>> Well,

I as my brother

I hear you going

to

There was a victim.

>> Well, because the home didn't exist.

But my dad's not doing so

like

This is not a kid. It's like

one day.

>> I was 11.

>> I've asked him a couple times.

basically

truly

add like a

Okay.

>> Oh, sure.

So, a lot of people

that

event

high school

That's what I'm saying.

And then there's like

sprout

It goes up like

>> one

time.

Yeah. So, I like the one sprout.

I have not.

>> Yes.

[clears throat]

I got stopped three times yesterday.

Oh, what else?

>> [clears throat]

>> Thomas

My Okay.

New York, you know.

Oh, I didn't know that.

>> I think it's just York.

Right.

>> All right. Good morning everybody.

>> Nothing to talk about. Slow news day

here in Washington DC. So let me just

say a couple of things off the bat.

First of all, I think the president's

peace plan in Iran is already bearing

real fruits for the American people.

Last night, 12.5 million barrels of oil

went through the straight 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 price low oil prices are. Um on the

uh military side, the Iranians for the

second night in a row did not shoot at

any ships in the straight of Hormuz. So

so far they are honoring their end of

the commitment. And on the blockade,

Sentcom has allowed north of a dozen

ships to go through our naval blockade.

And so we're also honoring our end of

the early part of the agreement. On the

military side, uh a couple of things

that are still true and will be true

whether the Iranians comply with the

rest of the deal or not. Number one,

their nuclear program has been

completely destroyed. Their capacity for

enrichment, the facilities at which they

were using to develop enrichment and

develop a potential nuclear weapon,

those facilities are still destroyed.

Their conventional military is still

destroyed. Their capacity to threaten

their neighbors is still largely gone.

And now we see whether they are willing

to comply with the next step of the

president's peace plan. As you all know,

the part of the peace plan, the part of

thisouou that I think have been most

misrepresented by certain parts of the

media is the idea that the Iranians get

all these benefits. You will hear things

about $300 billion or $24 billion or

this or that number of money or amount

of money. And the simple fact is that

the only way the Iranians get any of

those resources, not a single penny by

the way, from the United States of

America under any circumstances, but the

only way that they would ever get any

benefit of the bargain is if they comply

fully and change their behavior. And so

you really have a win-win situation for

the United States of America. If the

Iranians don't change their behavior,

their military and their nuclear program

is still destroyed. If they do change

their behavior, then they are going to

have a transformative relationship with

the Middle East. And the Middle East

will have a transformative relationship

with the people of Iran. That's a win

for the American people and for the

president of the United States,

regardless of which option the Iranians

ultimately choose. We obviously want

them to choose the right option. The

interesting thing about their system and

I think it's it's important for the

American people to appreciate this point

in particular is that there are real

divisions within their country about how

exactly to proceed. And what we've seen

over the last couple of months is that

the pragmatists within the Iranian

system, the people who really do want to

transform their relationship with the

Middle East and with the within with the

world, those people are winning the

argument. The United States wants those

people to win the argument. The United

States wants to have a better

relationship, but in order for that to

happen, the Iranians have to perform.

And if they don't perform, as we've said

before, they don't get any of the

benefits of the bargain. So, what I'd

ask all of you is just to report

honestly that the United States isn't

giving up a scent of money to Iran. And

even the economic benefits, the

sanctions, relief, and so forth that

comes along with this bargain only

happens if the Iranians perform. Uh, so

with that, I want to say thanks to all

of you. It's good to be with you this

morning and I'll kick it over to

questions. Let's start right over here

to the right.

>> Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I wanted

to ask a followup on something you just

mentioned. You talked about the

possibility of the current Iranian

leadership fundamentally changing their

behavior. Do you think that the current

Iranian leadership recognizes the

leverage that the US holds over itself

economically and militarily enough to

actually go forth with fundamentally

changing their behavior over the long

term and going about things differently?

So, I certainly think they recognize the

leverage that the United States has over

them. We've seen that in a number of our

conversations. We've seen that just in

their behavior over the last couple of

days. They certainly recognize that the

United States has great leverage. Will

that ultimately lead to a change in

behavior? I don't know. Uh, you know,

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, not just vis the

West, but visv the Middle East? And one

of the the interesting things about this

is, you know, the technical details of

this we can of course get into. There

are any going to be any number of

opinions about the negotiation, about

where it's ultimately going to go. But I

tend to think that you should trust the

people who know the Iranians the best

and who have the most to lose. What are

the Gulf Arab states saying about this

deal? What are they saying about this

deal compared to the JCPOA in 2015? This

is the Obama nuclear deal. Well, back

then they hated that deal. They felt

like it empowered the Iranians to be bad

actors across the region. And of course,

that's exactly what happened. They were

right about that. What are they saying

about the president's peace deal?

They're saying this is an amazingly

transformative thing for the region

because either way, we and the broader

region win. Iran is weakened, their

nuclear program destroyed, their economy

in desperate straits. And if they change

their behavior, big things are going to

happen for Iran and for the world. If

they don't, no skin off our backs.

Either way, we win. And that's the way

the president has set up this deal and

this negotiation.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just a quick

housekeeping question, which you

answered in your [clears throat] topper,

but did the 60-day period officially

begin yesterday?

>> I would say the 60-day period officially

started today. It was signed late and it

may have even been signed technically,

you know, because of the time shift. I

think it signed technically today, Iran

time. So, yes, the the deal started

yesterday. We're going to start the 60

clock today.

>> Go ahead. Can you help us understand

President Trump's shift on his stance

for Iran's ballistic missile program?

Initially, it was a key objective to

dismantle it. Yesterday, he said it

would only be fair if they had some if

the countries around Iran also had some.

So, when and why did that change? And

will the final agreement have any

restrictions on these missiles?

>> So, we destroyed a substantial number of

their ballistic missiles and their

excuse me, ballistic missile launchers

themselves. It's not just the bullets,

but it's the actual gun. And that's what

we were extremely effective at in

destroying during the last three months

of the campaign. All the president said

yesterday is that of course region

countries don't give up the right of

self-defense. Israel doesn't give up the

right of self-defense if Hezbollah fires

rockets or drones at Israel. The

Iranians don't give up the right of

self-defense in their country. But we do

expect that as part of the final deal,

they are not going to be able to build

the kind of missiles that can broadly

threaten the entire world. And that's

what the president of the United States

said yesterday. And and look, I mean,

it's it's very simple. You can't tell a

country whether Israel or Iran they're

not allowed to have any self-defense.

That's not what the president has asked.

That's not what the president has

requested. But as part of the final

deal, what we want to see is Iran not

funding regional instability, funding

regional terrorism, and of course trying

to rebuild their nuclear weapons

program. That's the main thing. The

nuclear weapons program is destroyed. It

is gone. If the Iranians decided

tomorrow to build a nuclear weapon, they

simply don't have the capacity in order

to do that. What we're trying to ensure

is they don't rebuild that capacity, not

just a year from now, two years from

now, but many, many years from now, so

that our children never have to worry

about a state sponsor of terrorism

having a nuclear weapon.

>> Thank you, Mr. Vice President. You were

just saying that um you're hoping this

deal would prevent Iran in the future

from getting a nuclear weapon, but from

what's been put out there of theou. Um

I'm I'm curious, how does the MOU

reflect that in the future Iran will not

in fact get a nuclear weapon? What's

stopping them from down the road to your

point rebuilding and restarting from

where we were pre- the war?

>> Well, number one, they would have to get

a lot of money in order to rebuild their

nuclear program. You're talking about

billions and billions of nuclear

infrastructure that the United States

destroyed. In order for them to rebuild

that program, they would have to get a

lot of money. And we have them in an

economic chokeold right now that we're

not going to release until they

fundamentally change their behavior.

What would that look like? That would

mean a real inspections regime. That

would mean a real enforcement regime. As

theou contemplates, that would mean the

destruction of their enriched stockpile.

All of these things are the sorts of

steps you're going to take if you're

serious about ending your nuclear

weapons program. And that again is why I

I go back to this this fundamental trade

that's built into the deal. They need

money to do anything. Their economy is

in absolute dire straits. But in order

for them to get any integration into the

world economy, they're going to have to

show us and verify for us that they are

changing their behavior. And that's why

the deal is set up in the way that it

is. Go ahead.

>> Um you um President Trump said yesterday

that he was going to blame you if the

talks with Iran go sideways. Are you

worried that he's going to make you the

full guy?

>> Uh, no, not at all. I mean, I think the

president was joking, uh, but as as he

often does, but no, I I think, look, the

entire team has worked very well on this

and we've got this thing to a very good

place for the American people. Now, I

have seen some progressive criticisms of

me personally saying, "What experience

does the vice president of the United

States have with hostile, highstakes

negotiations?" And I would point those

progressive critics to the fact that

just two days ago, I spent over an hour

on the view. So, I actually have great

experience in very hostile negotiations

and I've used that. I mean, look, Joy

Behar is way tougher than the Iranians

and she and I are best friends now. So,

we're going to get to a good place here.

We're going to get to a good place.

We're already at a good place. It's just

a question of whether we can really get

the icing on the top of fundamentally

transforming Iran's relationship with

the world. Go ahead.

>> Thank you. A couple of just timing

questions. how soon uh as theou lays out

can Iran start selling any of its oil

that has sort of been impounded right

with the blockade and two um can you

sort of explain the Lebanon component to

theou and how that front works and the

enforcability of it?

>> Yeah. So, so the Lebanon component, this

is about regional peace, right? This is

about regional peace. And what that

means is we expect Hezbollah is not

going to be firing rockets and firing

drones at the Israelis. And we also

expect that the Israelis are not going

to be going wild in Lebanon, right? Both

sides have to honor their end of the

deal. Now, as you guys know, sometimes

these ceasefires are a little messy. The

president of United States said this a

couple of weeks ago that a ceasefire in

that region of the world just means

they're shooting a little bit less at

each other than they were before. What

you've seen is radical progress in

Lebanon, less shooting, less firing, but

you're still going to have these little

flare-ups from time to time. And that's

just the sort of thing that we're going

to have to manage through the diplomatic

process. Secretary Rubio's been sort of

the person on point. It it's actually

worked out extraordinarily well because

we do have substantially less shooting,

but it's going to be something we have

to manage. And eventually what we want

to see is the Lebanese government, the

elected representatives of the people of

Lebanon who are able to police southern

Lebanon so that Hezbollah has not taken

over the country. The Israelis are not

threatened and then consequently the

Israelis are not attacking uh southern

Lebanon or Beirut either. That's the

plan there. You asked about the Iranian

oil. Um, one of the interesting things

that that you've seen is that the

Iranians have been completely unable to

sell oil, not because of sanctions, but

because of the blockade. Fundamentally,

the thing that we have done here, the

original, you know, what we give what

they give is that we said we're going to

lift the blockade. We're going to allow

you to sell some of your oil and they're

going to open the straight of Hormuz. We

see that process starting to work

already. It's going to take a little

time before it picks up fully, but

that's where we are today.

Go ahead.

>> Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The MOU,

just on the straight, the MOU guarantees

the 60 days of toll-free passage, but

after that, it is of course led to a

regional dialogue with a monitor on

deciding the future governance of the

strait. A senior US official told us

yesterday that they expect Iran to push

aggressively on this, but also that Gulf

states won't allow any kind of tolls.

How strenuously will the US fight to

keep tolls out of the straight and keep

any fees away from the future straight

commercial traffic? and are you going to

leave it to the Gulf States to kind of

fight this battle?

>> Well, first of all, we believe

international waterways should be free

of tolls and that's been our position.

That's what you see of course in the 60

days of theou and when you say it leaves

it open, it doesn't really leave it open

except in the sense that of course the

final negotiation is going to set the

terms of what comes afterwards, right?

Uh you said I I think that the it's the

G it's the Omanis and the Iranians but

it's actually theou contemplates that

the Omanis, the Iranians and the Gulf

Coast coalition together will figure out

a proper security framework for the

straits in the future. And what I mean

by that is that we don't ever want this

to happen again. Right? That's not about

tolling. That's about ensuring that the

straits are never used as a choke point

for the global economy ever again. It's

frankly not what the Iranians want. It's

not what the Omanis want. It's not what

the GCC wants either. So what we're

going to do, of course, working with our

allies in the region, is to ensure that

that is reflected in the final deal. And

if that's not reflected in the final

deal, there's not going to be a final

deal. And that that that is I I keep

coming back to this fundamental

structural point of this negotiation,

which is that we have all the cards. If

the Iranians want the benefits of the

bargain, they have to give us the things

that are necessary to get those

benefits.

>> Go ahead.

>> Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

>> We'll do vote. Okay,

>> both of you guys. There's one in the

white and then one in, you know, orange,

I think.

>> What about the pink?

>> I'm sorry.

>> Okay, maybe I'm maybe I'm color blind.

It looks more orange to me. I don't want

to have a debate about that. Orange

pinkish, you go first and then in front

of you, you can go second.

>> President, thank you, M.

How does the points about um granting

some immediate waiverss on sanctions

especially from the Treasury Department?

How does that square with the Iran

Nuclear Agreement Review Act? And are

you planning on briefing Congress on

this portion?

>> Yeah, so I talked to James Brad, our

head of OA. We do plan to brief Congress

very soon. I believe that they got the

formal copy of the signed document this

morning and if not, they're going to get

it some point later today. Uh we are

planning a briefing. I believe right now

the House is out of session. the Senate

is in session, though maybe I've

reversed that, but we're we're going to

ensure that the team briefs Congress and

of course answers their questions. We've

been doing that informally, of course,

talking to a number of of people in

Congress just over the last week. We'll

keep on doing that and we'll have a

formal briefing. I won't say exactly

when that will be because it depends a

little bit about session schedule. Uh

your point about the sanctions is is

I'll go back to what I said earlier,

which is really the choke point on

Iranian oil was never the sanctions. We

didn't see that as a major concession to

the Iranians. Frankly, the Iranians

didn't see that as a concession to them

because the what prevented them from

selling oil was not the sanctions. They

were selling plenty of oil without any

discount because the sanctions were just

fundamentally ineffective at that point.

What the sanctions did do is move the

Iranian financial system to sort of the

shadow banking system. So, by lifting

the blockade, that's the significant

thing that has changed. And by lifting

the sanctions, we're actually going to

be able to see a little bit where their

financial system actually sends money

and receives money. That's a real

benefit to the American people. And

that's really the only thing that has

changed by the the change in sanctions.

>> Does that require Congress from

>> Oh, sorry. Sorry. Yeah, sorry. I forgot

that part of the question. No, we don't

think so. We actually have an opinion

from OLC. We feel quite confident about

that. You know, Congress does there are

certain things that require

congressional approval. There are

certain things that don't require

congressional approval. We feel quite

confident that we can temporarily lift

those sanctions without going to

Congress and seeking their approval on

that.

>> Apparently, there's been reports coming

out of Israel that Iran is already

funneling um oil money to Hezbollah even

before this particular was signed. And

how exactly uh is uh is the US looking

at this? If we're talking about behavior

on part of Iran, I mean, October 7th

happened, um, and if there's concern

that perhaps Hezbollah could end up

doing some sort of attack on that scale,

then, you know, how exactly are we

talking about the reaction to the United

States? If you're talking

[clears throat] about perhaps a

humongous scaled attack that that

actually could happen, are we waiting

for that type of attack? I mean, what

exactly is is a scale here?

Sorry. You said what exactly is a scale?

>> Yeah. Well, I mean like what type of

attack would it take to actually get a

reaction from the United States to say,

"Okay, now we're actually going to start

dropping bombs on on on Iran for having

bad behavior."

>> Well, we don't want any a scale of any

attack. Any attack, whatever its scale

is unacceptable under this agreement.

Now you asked the question saying that

oil money was flowing to Hezbollah

before theou was signed and it's one of

the reasons why we are actually engaged

in this process is to ensure that no

money is flowing to Hezbollah. So it's

interesting where people will say that

theou is bad because theou produces

consequences that were actually

happening well before theou was signed.

That's not a reflection on theou. That's

a reflection of why we need theou to

ensure that we have the regional peace

and stability that we need. Now, what I

would say to, you know, some of the the

the critics of the deal that I've heard

that will say, well, Iran's going to get

all this benefit, I'll repeat what I've

said, and I'm probably going to have to

repeat it a number of times, is what is

the benefit that the Iranians get that

they didn't have before? And the answer

is nothing. They don't get anything

unless they change their behavior. If

they change their behavior, that is a

thing to celebrate. That's going to

transform the Middle East for a

generation. If they don't change their

behavior, they don't get the benefit of

the bargain. And I think I got to be

honest, I think fundamentally

fundamentally this idea that,

and it's a misrepresentation of theou,

this idea that the Iranians get all

these benefits before the deal is

actually consummated. The idea that they

get benefits before they change their

behavior is fundamentally a talking

point that is issued by people who want

the conflict to continue indefinitely

despite the fact that that's not good

for the American people and it's not

good for the region in the back

>> all the way back in the red.

>> Thank you so much, Mr. Vice President.

>> Red here, you mean? Are you

>> We'll do Okay. Sorry.

>> Thank you. I'm wearing bright red.

>> So many people are wearing red. You can

go first, Carara. Right. Thank you,

Cara. Okay. And then next after that.

>> Okay. Great. Uh could you highlight the

major differences between this deal and

President Obama's deal in 2015 and why

the administration believes that this

deal is superior? And second, uh Mr.

Vice President, President Trump has been

vocal lately about uh his disapproval

for BB Netanyahu's attacks on Lebanon.

Has the administration spoken to BB

Netanyahu directly about the president's

concerns recently? And what is the

feedback from Israel? Yeah. So, we we we

speak to BB or speak to some body in the

Israeli government just as we speak to

the Gulf Coast Coalition, our regional

partners pretty much every day, at least

at some high level of our government.

Look, the president has been very clear.

He he does not withdraw from Israel. No

one could withdraw from another country

the right of self-defense. Israel has

the right to defend itself, but

fundamentally the the Israelis, just

like everybody else, have to respect

this peace process that is fundamentally

good for them and good for the entire

region. What the president has grown

frustrated sometimes is that we seem to

be right on the cusp of a major

breakthrough in the agreement and then

all of a sudden there's a major

explosion that goes off in a civilian

population center in Beirut and a lot of

people who have nothing to do with

Hezbollah lose their lives. That's not

acceptable. That's the sort of thing

that we've asked for closer coordination

so that we ensure it doesn't happen. And

our message to the Israelis, just as our

message to everybody else, is

fundamentally we want this peace process

to be good for you. We do not want

Hezbollah attacking Israel. But in order

to ensure that that happens, we have got

to actually build the kind of regional

framework that can cut off the money to

Hezbollah, cut off Iranian support for

Hezbollah, and also ensure that

Lebanon's terrible territorial

sovereignty is respected by by all

parties. And the the difference between

the two agreements. So, [clears throat]

first of all, the two big differences

are not even in the substance of the

deal itself, but something I said

earlier are number one, the Gulf Coast

coalition loves this deal because they

think that it makes Iran weaker. They

hated the Obama deal because they

thought that it made Iran stronger. They

know more about this and they have more

to lose than anybody, including the

United States of America. So, I trust

their judgment. The second thing is

where the deal came from. You have to

remember in 2015, Iran had built a

sophisticated nuclear weapons program

with a nuclear weapons stockpile. So the

perspective that we came at as the

United States was you already have a

really nice nuclear program. We're going

to bribe you with American money in

order to stop it. Our perspective and

where we're coming at it is we already

destroyed your nuclear program. And so

if you promise and show verifiable

uh pathways to not rebuild it, then

we're willing to give you some sanctions

relief and things like that. So it's a

fundamentally different perspective. Now

there are all these substantive

differences as well. The Obama nuclear

deal allowed enrichment. Ours will not.

The Obama deal allowed the accumulation

of stockpiled weapons grade material.

Ours is actually leading to the

destruction of that stockpile of

enriched material. So there are many

differences. The Obama deal gave them

over a billion dollars of American

money. The this deal gives them zero

dollars of American money. So, a lot of

substantive differences, but I think the

most important differences are where

we're coming at it from a position of

strength and the fact that our GF Coast

partners love this deal.

>> No, no, sorry. I I said the other all

the way in the back. Thank you.

>> Margaret with the Daily Wire. Uh the

president has said that if Iran doesn't

behave themselves, we're going to resume

military action. So what is the red line

for uh what Iran can do before they

cross that red line and we do resume

military action?

>> Well, it's just it's going to be a

holistic approach where we look at their

behavior. Are they funding terrorism?

Are they leading to attacks of other

people? Are they

to get c

We're going to ask whe

they've actually changed their behavior.

That's a navy jacket.

Should we have should we have a debate

about the difference between blue and

navy? Not that guy. Because you give a

speech whenever you ask a question. I'm

going to give her an opportunity.

>> Guys, you're you're speaking over the

person who's asking the question.

>> There's been a lot of frustrations with

Americans, particularly about the gas

prices. If you touted the fact that

they're coming, the president

[clears throat] on a true social

towniness. But when should they expect

to see gas reach that $3 threshold?

>> Well, I'm I'm a and I think even the

economists would get this wrong, but the

fact that you've seen gas come down

about 65 cents a gallon on the national

average and the fact that you see oil

prices that are basically

close to where they were at the very

beginning of the conflict. I think

you're going to see a substantial

reduction in gas prices. I'm not going

to predict the exact price. If I was

able to do that, I might be in a

different business than politics. But we

do think you're going to see significant

relief at the pump on top of what we've

already seen.

>> President, you keep saying that Iran

will only reap economic rewards if they

comply and change their behavior, but

under this deal, they are being allowed

now to sell their oil freely. Again, how

is that not a financial benefit? And

they're being allowed to do that without

making any new concrete nuclear

commitments. So, can you explain how is

that not lopsided?

>> Well, first of all, they've made very

concrete nuclear commitments. They have

committed to the destruction of the

highlyenriched stockpile that they have

in their possession. But number two, all

we've done is lift the blockade and the

straits of we basically returned it to

where it was before the conflict. The

blockade is off. We put that in after

the conflict started. The straits are

now open. That's not a new benefit to

the Iranians. They were selling oil for

many, many years, well before we ever

put the blockade. We opposed that

blockade. They stopped selling oil. And

now we've lifted the blockade in order

to promote the free flow of energy

across across the world. Go ahead.

>> A US official described having secured

some of these quote unquote gentleman's

agreements with Iran on certain aspects

of the negotiation. So when it comes to

highlyenriched uranium, can you walk us

through what's been secured even in

these kind of gentleman's agreements on

how exactly they're going to get rid of

the stockpile? Are there agreements on

lowgrade enrichment? How long is the

moratorum on enriching uh uranium for

Iran? And are any of these gentleman's

agreements written down anywhere?

>> So, some of them are written down, but

fundamentally whether they're written

down or spoken, this is why we

structured the deal that we did because

we don't trust words. We trust action

and we trust conduct. And so, we're

going to reward conduct and we're not

going to reward any words whether

they're written on a sheet of paper or

not. There's a lot of discussion theou

the gentleman's agreements, the final

deal. Words don't matter, ladies and

gentlemen. We're about verification. And

so what we're going to do is to say if

they do the things that they have

promised to do. They have promised not

to enrich. They have promised that they

would allow inspectors in to destroy

that highlyenriched stockpile and then

of course it's not usable anymore. You

take it somewhere else. They promised a

number of things and that's why the deal

contemplates a number of benefits if

they do those things. But it doesn't do

anything if they don't actually meet

those promises.

Go ahead. Just follow up on that, sir.

If they don't follow through with their

commitment, will the US go back to

imposing sanctions and the blockade or

or does Iran get to keep some of the

concessions that it has already secured?

>> Well, first of all, the sanctions are

still on with the exception of the oil

sanctions, which I talked about were no

longer effective. The purpose of the oil

sanctions is to drive down how much Iran

is charging for a price for a barrel of

oil. Those sanctions had stopped being

effective. The blockade is what's

effective and again that's the thing

that has changed in accordance with them

opening the straight of Hormuse. No

sanctions will come off unless they

perform the benefit of the bargain and

every sanction will come back on. Let me

like hypothetically let's say two years

down the road they've done what we need

to see on the nuclear program and we

release the sanctions as the deal

contemplates. Then they decide they're

going to start rebuilding the nuclear

program. then of course those sanctions

are going to come back on. And that's

why it's really kind of like a dial. As

they dial up their good behavior, we can

dial up the economic relief. If they

dial down their good behavior, we can

turn it off. It's the good thing about

having the leverage, and it's a good

thing about being the United States of

America where we just fundamentally have

so much influence in the world financial

system.

>> Go ahead.

>> Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr.

Vice President. Leader Thoon said it's

unrealistic to get the Save America Act

passed by attaching it to FISA, which

the president's looking for. Do you

believe [clears throat] this is

possible?

>> Well, I Why don't we try? Why don't we

try? And at least for force people to

vote against it. One of the things that,

you know, sometimes frustrates me about

the legislative process is that people

will go into it saying, "This isn't

possible, therefore, we're not even

going to try." Well, let's actually see.

Let's try it. And if it's not possible,

then let the the people put their name

on it. This is also good for the

American people. How many American

senators know that the American people

love the Save America Act because they

believe in voter ID? But how many of

those same senators don't want to vote

for it because they know that the

radical elements within their own party

would punish them for it? Let people go

on the record and actually answer to the

American people. Which is why I think we

should do exactly as the president said.

Rob,

>> thank you very much. Um, on on Monday,

we were told theou will be published

within 48 hours. The president then said

uh after Friday, you I think then said

by Friday and then it ended up being

read out on a on a briefing call

yesterday. We were told theou had been

signed electronically on Sunday. There

was an access report that it hadn't

been. there's going to be a signing

ceremony on Friday and then it signed at

Versailles yesterday, last night.

Um, is is what's going on behind the

scenes as chaotic as your public

messaging?

>> Well, I don't think our public messaging

has been chaotic. I think dealing with a

fractured Iranian system where

communication isn't great is just

sometimes something that we don't fully

appreciate or we don't fully understand.

What what really happened here is that

we we did sign theou on Sunday. Uh that

locked in the terms of the deal. What

the [clears throat] Iranians came to us

and said is we'd like not to release the

text until Friday in order we don't I

didn't really understand that. I wanted

to get the text out immediately but in

order to be accommodating to them we

said sure okay we'll wait until Friday.

And then what happened over Monday

Tuesday the president was in G7 maybe

foreign leaders were talking to the

Iranians and encouraging them to do

that. We were definitely saying to them,

"We understand your desire not to have

the text out until Friday, but you know,

we we live in a democratic system. The

American people want to see the text of

this deal. We would certainly like to

get it out as soon as possible." And so

they came up with having their president

sign it, our president sign it, and then

just releasing the text as a signed

document immediately at that point. I I

do wonder, Rob, just this is pure

conjecture. I'm just guessing at this. I

wonder if part of it is that they wanted

to have a Persian translation, a Farsy

translation that they felt good about

and then of course once they translated

into Farsy, our State Department has to

confirm that the Farsy translation

matches the meaning of the English. I

think that is part of what was going on

here, but the text is out there now. We

said that we would be transparent about

it, but the reason why it went back and

forth a little bit about when exactly

the text would be released is just we

were trying to show good faith to the

Iranians who, for reasons I have no

idea, cared a lot about how the text

itself was rolled out. Blue tie there.

>> Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President.

As you know, because you are involved in

this process, theou allows for Iran to

sell its oil right away, which means

that Iran can take in on a monthly basis

tens of millions of dollars. Iran's

economy was in tatters. How is that this

not essentially giving a lifeline to

Iran economically? And what's to prevent

Iran from [clears throat] using all of

that money, all of those millions of

dollars to prop up its proxies in the

region?

>> Well, the number one thing is that we

actually see where the money moves now

because of what we've done with the

financial sanctions. We actually know

where the money is going to move. And

so, we have great confidence that we're

going to be able to see if they try to

fund terrorist organizations, we're

going to be able to see that. But you

said that millions of dollars is a

lifeline. Right now, the Iranian nation

is a nation of 94 million people. Their

economy is in a freefall. They have

sky-high inflation, and fundamentally

about a trillion dollars of damage to

their industrial base was caused over

the last three months. The idea that

selling a few million dollars worth of

barrel barrels of a few million dollars

worth of oil is going to fundamentally

transform the Iranian economy, that's

just not true. We thought that it would

be good in order to lift the blockade

and open the straits of Hormuz to allow

the free flow of energy. We felt that it

was reasonable that if we're going to

allow everybody else to sell their

energy during this period of

negotiation, we would allow everyone to

sell their energy. That's all we're

doing. We can slap everything right back

on if the Iranians don't make the deal

that we expect.

>> Yeah.

>> Either one. Either one.

>> Yeah. No. No. Yeah. Guys, how about how

about both of you?

>> Okay, Mr. Vice President, so President

Trump said we'll finish one talking

about Iran and he said then Cuba is

next. Is Cuba next? And also on

Colombia, Mr. Mr. Vice President, he has

mentioned Colombia three times this

week. Why is it so important the

election day in Colombia for President

Trump?

>> You guys have to ask Marco about Cuba.

That's not

>> Look, our our our our view our our our

go ahead in a second, but let me let me

just actually answer this guy's

question. Fundamentally in Cuba, it is a

system that hasn't worked. They can't

make any money. Their economy is frankly

probably in worse shape than the Iranian

economy. It's 90 miles from our shore.

So every time that there's a crisis, you

end up having desperate refugees or

desperate, you know, people who can't

feed their families trying to flood into

our country. We want the people of Cuban

to be happy and successful. We're

actually talking to the Iranian or

excuse me, the Cuban government right

now about how they could change their

ways to change that. We're going to see

what they do. And obviously, if if they

do one thing, we're going to do

something. If they make smart decisions,

we're going to have a much better

relationship with that island. Go ahead,

>> Mr. Vice President. Mr. Vice President,

thank you so much. Um, I know that you

are still not sure if you are going to

run for president in 2028, but if you do

not, is there anyone in particular that

you would want um to see run?

>> What's your name?

>> Uh, Steven Kapusa. Sorry.

>> I want Steen Kapuska to run for

president. [laughter]

>> Go ahead.

>> Go ahead.

>> Thank you, Vice President. I've got two

questions. Uh could you describe the

status of your Switzerland trip? Are you

definitely still going? What are your

plans? And also, if we could drill down

on frozen funds, there's been a lot of

focus on oil sanctions, but on frozen

funds, uh what's your understanding of

how much money is frozen, how much of

that is in the US, and a senior

administration official briefed

[clears throat] uh some of us reporters

earlier this week that there might be

small anties is what he said, like small

releases of money to build trust with

the Iranians early on. Could you

describe that whole situation?

>> So on the frozen funds, the the amount

of money I honestly don't know. I've

heard numbers north of a hundred billion

dollars. I've actually heard numbers

north of $200 billion. Most of it is not

in United States accounts. Most of it's

either in the Gulf or in Europe or

somewhere else, but I don't know the

exact amount of money. It's a lot. It's

one of the reasons why we've had such a

successful chokeold on the Iranian

economy, though by not not even close to

the main reason. uh we're not releasing

a single dollar of that money until the

Iranians perform. And there are a number

of ways they could perform. For example,

let's say they actually take meaningful

steps and this could happen very quickly

to destroy that stockpile of enriched

material. Then we're going to have a

conversation about it. But they have to

perform. I've seen some reports, I don't

know where this came from, that the

Qataris had released billions of dollars

in Iranian assets. That's just not true.

It would be impossible for the Qataris

to do that without our buy in and

certainly without us seeing it. So a lot

of these this reporting is just

fundamentally wrong. They don't get a

dollar of unfrozen assets. Their money,

not our money, but they don't get a

dollar of unfrozen assets until they

actually perform under the deal. You

asked about you asked about Switzerland.

Our our plan is to go to Switzerland. I

don't know exactly when. The way that

we're setting up this technical

negotiation is that obviously you you're

going to have the political leadership

involved. [clears throat] Excuse me.

We're going to have people on the ground

actually driving the technical talks,

the nuclear talks. How do you destroy

this highlyenriched uranium? All that

stuff uh that you really just have to

get into the nitty nitty-gritty on. So,

you know, I plan to go to Switzerland

exactly when, you know, we thought we

think these technical negotiations are

going to start sometime this weekend.

That's still the plan, but that could

change because it's not an easy country,

Iran, to get out of. And so, we're

trying to figure out exactly when that's

going to happen. I I I I suspect this

weekend, but I'm not sure.

>> You're halfway to Switzerland.

>> I I I may. It just depends on exactly

when the Iranians can get there. We're

trying to figure that out as we speak,

but again, I suspect it will happen this

weekend. We're going to find out exactly

whenever the coming days. Go ahead,

>> thank you so much, Mr. Vice President.

Um, just two questions for you. Uh, to

follow up on an earlier question,

Secretary Rubio said in March that the

goal of this war was to quote to

eliminate the threat of Iran's

short-range ballistic missiles. You just

said earlier that the military program

is destroyed. US intelligence estimates

that Iran still retains roughly 70% of

its pre-war ballistic and cruise missile

stockpile. So when did the

administration decide to abandon that

part of the original mission? And then

just second as well moving forward are

you leading the US team moving forward

in terms of the negotiations? How

involved will you be?

>> Yeah, so I'm certainly planning to lead

uh the US negotiating team. But on the

first question, you know, you talked

about an intelligence report that was

anonymously leaked to a reporter that

was not with context and that frankly is

not accurate. What has changed about

Iranians about the Iranian ballistics

missile program is it matters much less

the number of missiles they have, the

number of bullets. What matters much

more is the number of launchers they

have and importantly the teams on the

ground that have the capacity to launch

those missiles. their ability to launch

missiles has been substantially

degraded. Is it zero? No. But it's

substantially degraded. And in that

sense, we haven't abandoned the mission.

We've accomplished that particular part

of the mission. If you look at the Gulf

Arab allies and obviously the Israelis

who faced a lot, the two of them

together faced a brunt of these missile

attacks. Each of them feels

substantially safer today from the

Iranian missile threat than they did

before. Obviously, that is something

that we would like to continue. All the

president said yesterday is that you

can't expect any country to give up its

right of self-defense. You have to have

parody and that's what the president of

the United States was talking about. Go

ahead.

>> No, no, guys, guys. Guys, yeah

reaction to theou the memorandum of

understanding. He had what did he say?

All right. Okay. I'll give you the short

sir.

>> Yeah. Sorry.

>> Okay. He said

>> go ahead after you.

>> I'll give the short version. All right.

He gives he says he uh welcomes the

agreement between the US and Iran. He

says he hopes it will help strengthen

mutual trust, [clears throat] security,

and stability in the Middle East. And he

also hopes that it's truly a solution to

the war and that the war is really over.

What do you say to the pope here?

>> My response to that is praise Jesus. I'm

glad that the pope has positive things

to say about ourou. I think that the

pope is fundamentally accurate and it's

going to be good for the entire world,

but we got to keep working at it to make

sure that the Iranians honor the

commitments that they've made. And then

yes, you in front. Go ahead.

>> You know, guys, with

>> with with the the thing is there's so

many people in here. I could say the red

tie and then nine of you start shouting

at us. The the

>> the burgundy tie.

>> There we go. That guy.

>> Yeah. Sorry. Thank you. Then you call

for a US troop withdrawal from the Gulf

region tied to the final deal. Can you

say whether the draw down will affect US

forces pass through Iraq and Syria where

Americans troops currently help protect

Kurdish held areas from Iranian backed

militias.

>> Okay. So, so the draw down contemplated

again this is the final deal. This is

assuming that the Iranians comply that

they give us verification that they take

real substantial conduct towards this

peace agreement. What we're saying is

that we will withdraw troops to the

preconlict level, meaning we're not

going to keep a couple of extra aircraft

carrier groups over there. The Iranians

don't want that. Frankly, we don't want

that either. Go ahead. Yeah.

>> You said the US is not going to be

funding that $300 billion fund. Who

exactly is funding that? Is that private

companies? And I also noticed that your

voice is horse. Are you sick? Um, have

you been using your voice a lot?

Well, I've been on a bit of a book tour

the past couple of days, but I can't

promote my book here in the White House

press briefing room. Uh, I had a cold

about a week ago. That and talking a lot

about this deal and talking a lot about

the book, I'm definitely a little bit

horse, but you asked your first question

was about

>> who exactly is funding that $300

million.

>> Oh, I I see. So, so what's interesting

about this is there is a great desire

from the Arab world and from outside the

Arab world to actually get involved in

Iran if they behave properly. So, for

example, let's say the United Arab

Emirates who've been a great ally over

the last not just few months but over

the last many years, let's say that they

would like to invest in building a power

plant. That actually is impossible right

now because of the way that US sanctions

work. And so what we're saying is that

if you behave and if the Emiratis

themselves want to build a power plant,

then we will do the sanctions relief

necessary to make that possible. The

good thing about that is that it

actually creates integration, which is

leverage. A world where the Gulf Coast

coalition has greater leverage into the

Iranian economy is a world where the

Iranians are going to be heavily

prevented from misbehaving. So it's a

lot of the Gulf Coast coalition again,

they see that Iran is weakened. They see

there's an opportunity to build a new

relationship there and they're saying if

they behave and if the United States is

willing to allow this to happen, then

absolutely we want to change our

relationship with Iran.

>> No. Well, I mean, I I assume that in the

United Arab Emirates, there would be

private money and so forth that would

that would be part of this. But again,

this is so far in advance because it

assumes a transformation in Iranian

behavior. Sir,

>> thank you so much, Mr. Vice President.

As you know the Iranianbacked groups in

the region were involved in this war and

they damaged US facilities and your

allies as well. How this agreement

affect Iranbacked groups across the

region especially the Iranianbacked

groups in Iraq? And my second question

this this agreement requires Iran to

stop attacking the Kurdish opposition in

Kurdistan region which they did two days

ago. So what this agreement does

fundamentally is it requires Iran to

behave like a normal country. And if it

doesn't, as so many people think that it

never will, then it doesn't get any of

the economic benefits. And if they do,

then that's a great thing for everybody.

It's a great thing for the Kurds. It's a

great thing for anybody who has been

under the brunt or under the threat of

Iranianfunded terrorist organizations.

The expectation is that Iran will stop

that and if they don't, they don't get

the benefits of the bargain. John,

>> thank you, Mr. Vice President. Many of

the colleagues that you served with in

the US Senate and Republican conference

have criticized this deal over the last

24 hours. What is your message, Mr. Vice

President back to them?

>> So, I guess I would say to anybody, any

of the critics is number one, have a

little bit of faith in the president of

the United States. The idea that he is

going to strike a deal that's been bad

for the American people, it's

preposterous. He is the person who has

had the courage to fundamentally

transform our relationship with Iran and

with a lot of other countries over the

last year and a half. He 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. That'd be message number one is

have a little faith in the president's

ability given that he's got us this far

to take us the final step. The second

thing that I would say is so many of

what I've read or heard that people

believe about this deal is just

fundamentally untrue. It is a memorandum

of understanding. It is fundamentally a

principle that yes, the straits of form

moves are going to be open immediately

and they already are are. Yes, they're

going to give up their highlyenriched

material, but they've got to actually do

it. It's about conduct. It's about

rewarding good conduct and punishing bad

conduct, which in some ways is what

we've been doing for the last three

months visv that country. Anyway, so so

many of the criticisms I saw Lindsey

Graham came out with a a positive

statement after expressing some

concerns. I think that when people get

to understand not just the agreement,

but our negotiating posture as a

country, they will realize this is an

excellent thing for the American people.

But that's part of our job. We've got to

tell the story about what this means for

Americans, how it's going to make all of

us safer and more prosperous. That's why

I'm here talking to everybody, and we're

going to keep on telling that story in

the in in the days and weeks to come. Go

ahead. Thank you, sir. Jordan Conradson

with the Gayway P. I want to talk um

back to the Lebanon component.

>> Um there's a report in Axios

[clears throat]

that Netanyahu is fuming over this. Uh

he doesn't Israel doesn't feel uh bound

to theou as it relates to Lebanon. If,

as you mentioned, your frustration with

Israel striking in Beirut, hitting

apartment buildings. If that continues,

could it torpedo the deal? And what

would the US's response be to a broader

war in Lebanon involving

Yeah. Well, I don't want to get into

hypotheticals that could torpedo the

deal because I think the president's

expectation is that all of our friends,

the Israelis, the Arabs in the region,

we're going to work together and

actually see this deal to completion.

Now, I saw the Axios report, uh, you

know, that that that Netanyahu is

fuming. That's not reflective of the

conversations that I've had with him,

but maybe he's saying something to

somebody else that he's not saying to

me. What I will say, and this does

bother me, is that you have seen people

within BB's cabinet who have come out

and attacked the deal and in some ways

very personally attacked the president

of the United States. And I guess my

message to them would be twofold. Number

one, Donald J. Trump is the only head of

state in the entire world who is

sympathetic to the nation of Israel at

this moment in time. And he happens to

be the head of state of the world

superpower. If I was in the cabinet of

the Israeli government, I might not be

attacking the only powerful ally that I

have anywhere left in the entire world.

And the second message I would give to

some of those cabinet members, BB to his

credit has not gone down this path, but

to some of these cabinet members in

Israel who are attacking the president

of the United States, the other thing

that I would say is that over the last 3

months, [clears throat]

twothirds of the defensive weapons that

have protected your homeland have been

built by American hands and paid for by

American tax dollars. The problem for

Israel is not Donald J. Trump. And

anybody in Israel who thinks their

biggest problem is the president of the

United States needs to wake up and smell

the reality of the situation that

country is in. Thank you all.

>> [music]

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>> Heat. Heat.

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