Vance says Iran war goes on until Tehran vows not to rebuild nuclear programme

US Vice President JD Vance said at a CBS News town hall broadcast over the weekend that the United States had "in some ways" won decisively in its war with Iran, but that the conflict was not yet over. "Have we destroyed the Iranian nuclear program? The answer is yes," he said.

Vance said the Trump administration now has two aims: securing a long-term, verifiable commitment from Iran that it will not rebuild its nuclear programme, and preventing a global energy crisis. He questioned whether Iran might be able to rebuild its uranium enrichment capacity five years from now.

The vice president accused Iran of attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and driving up oil prices. He said fuel prices would be three times higher if the US Navy were not keeping oil and gas moving through the strait, and promised that prices would fall once the conflict ends.

According to media reports, 21 US service members have been killed and hundreds wounded since the war began in late February. At the town hall, the husband of a US soldier killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait asked how leaders would be held accountable for failures. Vance said he would take every failure seriously. Iran is Afghanistan's western neighbour.