Vice President JD Vance expressed gratitude Sunday for the American people’s “patience” with high gas prices throughout the war with Iran as news of a peace deal broke.
President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced an agreement had been reached in late Sunday/early Monday social media posts respectively following “intensive talks.” Fox News’s “The Big Weekend Show” co-host Tomi Lahren asked Vance what he had to say to the American people, noting the high gas prices that had resulted from the conflict with Iran.
“Well, I guess my primary message to the American people is ‘thank you,’” Vance replied. “Because of your patience, I think that we’ve solved the problem that has plagued this country, again, for well before I was even born, which is a terrorist-supporting Iran that was pursuing a nuclear weapon. We are now at a place here where we can say with confidence, ‘They’re not going to get a nuclear weapon.’”
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The Trump administration has faced some headwinds in polling due to the conflict with Iran, with 58.3% of respondents disapproving of Trump’s handling of the situation, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.
“And again, if they comply with the broader elements of the deal, this entire region— I mean think about this: for years if you’ve heard about the Middle East as an American, you’ve heard about war, you’ve heard about terrorism, you’ve heard about the constant chaos of the region,” Vance continued. “What the president has done is created [sic] the real space to transform that region, cooperation between the Gulf Arab allies and the Israelis, and now, hopefully, a new era with the Iranians.”
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States at the time of writing Sunday was $3.995, according to Gasbuddy.com. The price had skyrocketed from $2.982 since the Feb. 28 start of Operation Epic Fury.
The United States and Israel conducted military operations against Iran that day following the collapse of negotiations concerning the Islamic regime’s nuclear weapons program. President Trump and other administration officials previously said the Iranian nuclear program was “obliterated” as a result of the June 2025 strike targeting multiple Iranian nuclear facilities; however, they continued to state Iran remains a threat to the United States without offering specific information.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated May 10 on “Meet the Press” that Iran has enough material for ten nuclear weapons and nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched to 60%. Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, made similar remarks March 2 on “Hannity.” The administration has seemingly not supplied evidence supporting either claim.
The New York Times reported April 7 that, despite doubts expressed by administration officials such as Vance, Trump was convinced to approve the military action against Iran after a February meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. launched strikes because an Iranian response to a planned Israeli attack could potentially have targeted American forces.
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