US Vice President JD Vance has defended the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the US-Israeli war with Iran, responding to criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.

In an interview with The New York Times, Vance reserved his harshest criticism for Israel, whose leaders allegedly pushed Washington to continue the war. He pointed to criticism from Israeli far-right ministers, saying: "You're a country of nine million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem."

Vance called on Israel to let negotiations play out and "give a little bit of credit to the United States of America." His remarks marked another instance of the Trump regime taking an atypically harsh rhetorical approach toward Israel.

President Trump also criticized Israel's rules of engagement, stating: "Too many people have been killed. You don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody."

Vance argued that the war had degraded Iran's nuclear capacity, conventional military, and economy. He framed the war as a victory regardless of negotiations, saying: "If the Iranians don't change their behavior, their military and nuclear program is still destroyed."

The MoU includes immediate sanctions waivers on Iran's fossil fuel industry, a $300 billion reconstruction fund, and unfreezing of Iranian assets. Iran commits to dilute its highly enriched uranium stockpile, but the future of its nuclear program is left for 60 days of talks.

The deal does not address Iran's ballistic missile program or support for proxies. Vance expressed hope that future negotiations would prevent Iran from building missiles that threaten the world, but backed away from previous pledges to eliminate Iran's ballistic capabilities.

Source: www.aljazeera.com