Vance: Iran 'Incapable of Building Nuclear Weapon' After US Strikes

Vice President JD Vance delivered one of the Trump administration's most definitive assessments yet of the weekend's nuclear strikes against Iran, declaring Monday evening that Tehran is now fundamentally incapable of producing nuclear weapons.

"A week ago, the Iranians were quite close to achieving a nuclear weapon," Vance told Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier." "Now, they cannot build a nuclear weapon."

Vance's declaration represents the administration's clearest statement about the operational impact of Saturday's "Operation Midnight Hammer," the unprecedented US bombing campaign that targeted three key Iranian nuclear facilities using B-2 stealth bombers and submarine-launched cruise missiles.

.@VP: "We have taken what was a threatening nuclear program that could have destabilized the entire world — now that program is gone. We did it through effective Presidential leadership and also some very, very competent work from our troops." pic.twitter.com/8MrImpMvC4
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 23, 2025

The Vice President's comments came as President Trump announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran Monday evening, potentially bringing to a close what he termed "The 12 Day War." But the Vice President's Fox News interview provided new details about the administration's strategic objectives and tactical achievements.

"Iran was very close to having a nuclear weapon," Vance explained. "Now Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have because we destroyed it."

The assessment goes beyond previous administration statements that characterized the damage as "substantial" or setting back Iran's program by "many years." Instead, Vance described a more complete degradation of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, suggesting the strikes achieved their maximum strategic objective.

The targets—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—represented the core of Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities. The Fordow facility, buried deep within a mountain, required the US military's most powerful bunker-busting bombs to penetrate. Satellite imagery has since confirmed significant damage to all three sites.

Technical Achievement and Strategic Messaging

Throughout multiple Sunday news show appearances, Vance emphasized both the precision of the operation and its limited scope. He repeatedly stressed that the United States was "not at war with Iran" but rather "at war with Iran's nuclear program."

The technical execution drew particular praise from the Vice President, who noted that US forces flew "thousands of miles on a 30-hour non-stop flight, never touched down on the ground" and successfully dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs "on a target about the size of a washing machine."

"No military in the world has the training, the skills, and the equipment to do what these guys did," Vance said on ABC's "This Week."

But questions still remain about the nuclear material that was being enriched at these sites.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran possessed approximately 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%—dangerously close to the 90% threshold needed for weapons production.

When pressed about the location of this material following the strikes, Vance indicated the administration would "work in the coming weeks to do something about the fuel and would have conversations with the Iranians."

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has expressed uncertainty about the current whereabouts of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, noting that IAEA inspectors last confirmed its location on June 10—three days before Israel's initial attacks began the current conflict.