Live Reporting

Edited by Oliver O’Connell and Caitlin Doherty, with Sarah Smith at the White House

What did we learn from Vance’s briefing room appearance?

Here are some of the toplines from Vance’s briefing to reporters.

• Vance, who led the US delegation in talks with Iran that took place last month in Pakistan, spoke at length about the war
• He said that the ball is in Iran’s court, and that the US is “locked and loaded” to aggressively attack Iran again
• He also reiterated the administration’s position that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and that if Tehran did have the bomb it would inspire other countries in the region to pursue it too
• Vance also defended the White House decision to establish a $1.8bn fund to pay out to people who were “mistreated” by the previous administration under Democrat Joe Biden
• He said that the money will be distributed on a case-by-case basis, but he refused to say whether people convicted of assaulted police officers during the Capitol Hill riot in 2021 should be compensated
• He also said that while in China, Trump and Xi Jinping spoke about efforts to block exporters in the country from sending the deadly drug fentanyl to the US
• The VP also denied that he was auditioning for president with his appearance in the briefing room, saying that he is not “a future presidential candidate”
• He also took questions on the US decision to withhold US troops from being deployed to Poland, and about the shooting at mosque in San Diego on Monday

We’re ending our live coverage but you can read more about the $1.8bn compensation fund here: ‘Not a big fan’ – Top Republican breaks with Trump on $1.8bn compensation fund

What Vance said about negotiations with Iran

In his press briefing Vice President JD Vance said he believes the US has made “a lot of progress” in the negotiations with Iran and insisted that “this is not a forever war”.

He reiterated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, arguing it would lead to other nations “scrambling” to get one and that this would “make us all less safe”.

He said Iran is a “proud civilization” with “amazing people” but called it “fractured”, meaning it is sometimes “not totally clear” what the position of the negotiating team is.

The VP said he is aware of reporting about Russia taking possession of Iran’s enriched uranium – this is not part of the US plan, he said, but adding that he is not going to make commitments on negotiations during his briefing.

In response to a question about the effect of the war on prices in the US, he said he feels “confident” that “prices are going to come down” after the war.

And he was asked about comments from Trump last week, who said: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”

Vance says the remark was “totally taken out of context” and that the president worries about his fellow Americans “every single day”.