June 22, 2026 12:09 PM UTC

Vance Celebrates Obama's Iran Deal

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• by: Colorado Pols

As CBS News reports, what Vice President J.D. Vance is hailing as the greatest foreign policy breakthrough since Moses parted the Red Sea seems awfully familiar:

Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Iran had agreed to allow nuclear inspectors from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency back into the country, saying “we have made a lot of great progress on nuclear talks.”

Vance said allowing the nuclear inspectors back in is “probably what we’re most excited about as Americans.” Vance called it a “very, very good day.”

“That is a major milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran,” Vance said…

If the return of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Iran sounds like something you’ve heard before, that’s because it is:

Vance said he expected IAEA inspections — which were carried out for years under the previous JPCOA nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration — to resume as soon as this week. [Pols emphasis]

That’s right, folks! The big breakthrough Vance is touting that opened the spigots in both directions–billions in cash to Iran, oil to the world–is a return to the inspection regime that former President Barack Obama had already negotiated. If you’re wondering in that case what the last three months of skyrocketing energy prices and thousands of dead across the Middle East actually accomplished…well, so is the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, AP reports that Donald Trump seems determined to blow up even this modest step forward:

“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” Trump said on social media. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”

The comments from afar — on social media and to news outlets — complicated efforts by Vice President JD Vance and mediators Pakistan and Qatar to keep Iran engaged in discussions.

Vance’s embarrassing celebration of the exact same inspections Trump had abandoned when he dumped the agreement with Iran that Obama brokered over a decade ago, as the Phil Anschutz-owned Washington Examiner reports, has resulted in more Republicans pushing for Vance to be sidelined in the Iran negotiations:

Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) on Monday suggested Secretary of State Marco Rubio should be waiting in the wings to handle negotiations with Iran if Vice President JD Vance can’t get a long-term agreement with Tehran over the finish line.

Vance is in Switzerland this week with Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to meet with Iranian officials to negotiate a “road map” for a final peace deal to end the conflict in the region…

Sheehy also voiced skepticism that Iran is engaging in peace talks in good faith, saying that Tehran is performing its usual “rope-a-dope” in order to buy time until President Donald Trump’s time in office comes to a close. [Pols emphasis]

That’s a much less rosy assessment of the situation than either the White House of the markets want to hear, and coming from a Republican Senator, it’s another sign of the precarious position Trump is in as he seeks a face-saving exit from a war he started–and now exactly no one except Trump personally believes America has won. Fellow Republicans following Israeli President Bibi Netanyahu’s dismayed lead appear to have no interest in spinning events to please the White House, and that means they’re being honest about how little is actually being achieved in these negotiations.

For Trump, and for vulnerable Republicans like Colorado’s Rep. Gabe Evans who not only relentlessly defended the war on Iran but questioned the patriotism of anyone who didn’t, the proverbial rug is being pulled from under their feet. As we’ve said about so many other issues, Evans made the choice to be Trump’s unflappable cheerleader on Iran despite his nationally recognized vulnerability.

Soon Evans may be left to take the blame for the war on Iran with Trump, Vance, and not many others.