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By Jordan King
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Vice President JD Vance has discussed why his talks with Iran broke down over the weekend and why Viktor Orbán, Hungary's longtime leader and an ally of President Donald Trump, lost his country's parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Vance, who led failed negotiation talks with Iran in Pakistan, said the U.S. team left Islamabad after realizing the Iranian delegation was "unable to cut a deal," adding, "They had to go back to Tehran—either from the supreme leader or somebody else—and actually get approval to the terms we had set." Vance also accused Tehran of trying to "move the goalposts" during talks about the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. vice president also said in an interview with Fox News that some things "went right" and that the talks "made a lot of progress."
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When asked whether his trip to Hungary to support Orbán was "worth it" given Orbán's loss, Vance stood by his support for the right-wing populist, saying, "It wasn't a bad trip at all because it's worth standing by people, even if you don't win every race."
Why It Matters
Vance's trips to Hungary and Pakistan have amounted to back-to-back defeats for the vice president on the world stage. While the 2028 presidential election is still years away, support for Vance as the Republican nominee fell 5 points in April, new polling showed, with support waning among GOP voters and right‑leaning independents. Vance's grip on the Republican presidential field appears to be loosening, which could have significant ramifications as the election cycle draws nearer.
JD Vance on Iran Talks
Fox News host Bret Baier questioned Vance about his failed talks with Iran, and the vice president defended his progress, saying: "I think it was the first time that you'd ever seen the Iranian government, the U.S. government meet at such a high level—maybe in the history of the current leadership of Iran. So that's, I think, a positive."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader who had been in office since 1989, was assassinated on February 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against the Islamic Republic. Other top Iranian officials—including Mohammad Pakpour**,** the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh—have also been killed in attacks.
Vance said part of the progress made was that Iran "moved in our direction" toward recognizing the U.S.'s "red lines," but it "didn't move far enough."
The vice president said Trump's red lines all "flow from that fundamental premise" that "Iran can never have a nuclear weapon."
"It is one thing for the Iranians to say that they themselves are never going to have a nuclear weapon. They are willing to say that, and that's good, but you have to of course verify these things," Vance said.
This includes getting "the enriched uranium that the Iranians currently possess" out of the country and under the control of the United States and ensuring that Iran does not "have the ability to enrich uranium, which is how they got so close to a nuclear weapon before," he continued.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, although international experts say Tehran has not met its obligations to be transparent about its nuclear development. A stockpile of about 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, which is a short step from weapons-grade, is thought to be hidden in Iran.
Vance said of the talks in Pakistan, "What we decided is, you know what, given that we don't think this current team and this current timeline is going to be able to make a deal, let them go back to Tehran, we're going to go back to Washington, and that's where we are today."
When asked about the next steps, Vance said: "It's a question that would be best put to the Iranians because the ball really is in their court."
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JD Vance on Viktor Orbán’s Loss in Hungary
Orbán's loss came despite major MAGA support, with Vance previously vowing to help him win. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his own visit to the Hungarian capital in February, proclaimed to Orbán, "Trump is deeply committed to your success."
Speaking to Baier, Vance called Orbán, who served as prime minister of Hungary from 1998 to 2002 and returned to office in 2010, a "great guy who's done a very good job."
"We certainly knew there was a very good chance that Viktor would lose that election. We did it because he's one of the few European leaders we've seen who's been willing to stand up to the bureaucracy in Brussels that has been very bad for the United States," Vance said.
He said Orbán often offered the "only vote to protect American interests" in the European Union.
"We didn't go because we expected Viktor to cruise to an election victory. We went because it was the right thing to do, to stand behind a person that stood behind us for a very long time," he said.
"This wasn't about Russia, and fundamentally, it wasn't about Europe. It was about the United States and the fact that he's been a good partner to both me and the president personally, but also to the United States," Vance continued.
The vice president added that while he was sad Orbán lost, he was sure the administration would "work very well" with the next prime minister of Hungary.
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