ScreenshotVice President J.D. Vance delivered a White House press briefing on Thursday, where he defended the memorandum of understanding with Iran, signed yesterday, and responded to critics of the agreement’s framework. Vance kicked off the press briefing, announcing, “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 to nearly 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.” He further noted that Iran has stopped firing upon ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US military has allowed over a dozen ships to pass through the Naval blockade.“Their nuclear program has been completely destroyed. Their capacity for enrichment, the facilities 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,” he said.The Vice President then addressed points of the memorandum, which he said have been “misrepresented” by the media. “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,” Vance said, describing the memorandum as ” a win-win situation for the United States of America.”He continued, “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.”In conclusion, Vance told reporters, “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 cent 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.”Asked by OANN’s Daniel Baldwin if Iran recognizes the leverage that the US holds and whether that will actually lead to a behavioral change from Iran, Vance said, frankly, “I don’t know.”He continued, “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-a-vis the West, but vis-a-vis the Middle East?”“What are the Gulf Arab states saying about this deal? What are they saying about this deal compared to the JCPOA in 2015?” Vance said. “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,” Vance continued, “no skin off our backs. Either way, we win. And that’s the way the President has set up this deal and this negotiation.”WATCH:!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2vbt6g"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");Rumble("play", {"video":"v79b5ju","div":"rumble_v79b5ju"});Later in the press briefing, Vance told Lindell TV’s Cara Castronuova that the key difference between Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal and Trump’s memorandum of understanding lies in Iran and the United States’ negotiating standpoints. With Obama, Iran already had a “sophisticated nuclear weapons program,” and Obama bribed them to stop it, he said. But with Trump, he said, Iran’s nuclear program is “already destroyed,” and the US is holding them not to rebuild it.“It’s a fundamentally different perspective,” Vance said. “I think the most important differences are where we’re coming at it from a position of strength and the fact that our Gulf Coast partners love this deal.”Additionally, “The Obama deal allowed the accumulation of stockpiled, weapons-grade material; ours is actually leading to the destruction of that stockpile of enriched material,” and it “allowed the accumulation of stockpiled, weapons-grade material,” whereas “ours is actually leading to the destruction of that stockpile of enriched material.”WATCH:Vance: So, first of all, the two big differences are not even in the substance of the deal itself, but something I said earlier: 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 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; this deal gives them $0 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 Gulf Coast partners love this deal.!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2vbt6g"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");Rumble("play", {"video":"v79b5vm","div":"rumble_v79b5vm"});The post (VIDEO) JD Vance Highlights The Difference Between Obama’s JCPOA and Trump’s MOU – Responds to Critics Claiming Iran Will Receive $300 Billion appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.