Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that despite the U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the United States is not at war with Iran itself.

“No, we’re not at war with Iran, Jon. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” Vance told ABC News’ This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl.

“And I think the president took decisive action to destroy that program last night.”

When asked if Iran’s nuclear capabilities had now been fully eliminated, Vance said the program had been significantly weakened.

“Whether it’s years or beyond that, we know it’s going to be a very long time before Iran can even build a nuclear weapon if they want to,” he said.

President Donald Trump, in an address to the nation Saturday night, stated that the US strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

Pressed by Karl on whether the US could confirm that those facilities had indeed been destroyed, Vance again emphasized the extent of the setback.

“I can say to the American people with great confidence — that they are much further away from the nuclear program today than they were 24 hours ago,” he said.

“That was the objective of the mission, to destroy that Fordo nuclear site and of course, do some damage to the other sites as well. But we feel very confident that the Fordo nuclear site was substantially set back, and that was our goal.”

On the matter of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium — reportedly about 900 pounds — Vance said the administration was working on how to address it.

“We’ll have conversations with the Iranians,” he said, indicating more actions could follow in the coming weeks.

Vance warned that any Iranian retaliation would be met with serious consequences.

“How Iran responds, I think, is ultimately — the ball is in their court,” he said. “But if you look at what we did, it was very precise, very narrowly tailored to our objective. And if the Iranians decide to expand this, then that’s ultimately their decision. And the president of the United States will respond in kind.”

He stressed that the Trump administration has no interest in dragging the US into another prolonged conflict in the region.

“That is not what we’re getting ourselves involved in. What we’re getting ourselves involved in is a very targeted effort to eliminate the Iranian nuclear program,” Vance said.

“That will continue to be the goal of American foreign policy. And it’s that goal that is going to motivate our action in — in the weeks and months to come.”

Karl also asked about a post from President Trump on his social media platform last week in which he referred to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as an “easy target.”

Was the US targeting Khamenei directly? And had the administration ruled out pursuing regime change?

“First of all, we don’t want to achieve regime change,” Vance responded. “We want to achieve the end of the Iranian nuclear program, Jon. That’s America’s objective, and that’s what the president has set us out to do.”

(ABC News)

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE