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U.S. Vice President JD Vance called the two-week ceasefire with Iran a "fragile truce" on Wednesday, accusing Iranian officials of "lying" about the nature of the agreement and warning that Tehran would "not be happy" if it undermines the deal.
The U.S. vice president also stressed that Washington retains "clear military, diplomatic and extraordinary economic leverage" and that Trump is "impatient to make progress."
Speaking at Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest, Vance said the Iranian response to the ceasefire had been divided.
"Some of the people have responded favourably and have said the right things, and then you have some people on social media within their system who are basically lying about what we've accomplished militarily. They're lying about the nature of the agreement. They're lying about the nature of the ceasefire," Vance said.
He said the foreign minister had responded favorably to the plan, but that others within the Iranian system were actively misrepresenting it.
"This is why I say this is a fragile truce. You have people who clearly want to come to the negotiating table and work with us to find a good deal, and then you have people who are lying about even the fragile truce that we've already struck," he added.
Vance laid out the consequences for Iranian bad faith in stark terms.
"If the Iranians are willing, in good faith, to work with us, I think we can make an agreement. If they're going to lie, if they're going to cheat, if they're going to try to prevent even the fragile truce that we've set up from taking place, then they're not going to be happy," he said.
Vance stated that Trump had instructed his team to hold off on using certain tools of pressure for now, but made clear that those options remain active.
"What the president has also shown is that we still have clear military, diplomatic and, maybe most importantly, we have extraordinary economic leverage," he added.
"The president has told us not to use those tools. He's told us to come to the negotiating table. But if the Iranians don't do the exact same thing, they're going to find out that the president of the United States is not one to mess around," he noted.
"He's impatient. He's impatient to make progress," Vance said.
Speaking at the same event, Vance said Washington had been "disappointed" by European leadership's lack of commitment to resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, saying most European capitals were not as helpful as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
He noted that the conflict "has stopped making sense" and questioned the cost in lives and economic strain for limited territorial gains.
"Is that worth losing hundreds of thousands of additional Russian and Ukrainian young men?" he asked.
Vance also called remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy directed at Orban "completely scandalous" and "unacceptable."
"You should never have a foreign head of government threatening the head of government of an allied nation. It's preposterous. It's unacceptable," he added.
Vance rejected claims that his Budapest visit ahead of Sunday's parliamentary elections constituted foreign interference, arguing instead that EU financial pressure on Hungary represented undue influence.
"I've also been told that the Vice President of the United States coming and saying that Viktor Orban is doing a good job is foreign influence. But what's not foreign influence is when the European Union threatens billions of dollars withheld from Hungary because you guys protect your borders," he said.
Vance began his Budapest visit on Tuesday to support Orban, who faces an unprecedented challenge to his 16-year rule in Sunday's elections.
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