Vance in Hungary expresses optimism Iran will respond before Tuesday night deadline
Washington — Vice President JD Vance voiced support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his reelection bid during a trip to Budapest Tuesday, while also expressing optimism about negotiations with Iran amid President Trump's rapidly approaching deadline for a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to thousands of Hungarians five days before Hungary's Sunday parliamentary elections, Vance weighed in on the foreign election in the Russia-allied Hungary, telling the crowd, "we have got to get Viktor Orbán reelected as prime minister of Hungary, don't we?"
The vice president rang Mr. Trump as he began his speech and, after a couple tries, got the president on the phone. "I love Hungary and I love that Viktor," Mr. Trump told the crowd through the speakerphone.
During his visit to Budapest, Vance took a measured and somewhat optimistic approach to the current state of negotiations with Iran. Mr. Trump is threatening to destroy Iran if there isn't a peace deal by his deadline of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday. Vance said he's confident the U.S. will receive a response from Iran ahead of the deadline, even though "they're not the fastest negotiators" and there is often a delay between responses.
"I really think there are two pathways," Vance said in a large auditorium filled with Hungarian supporters of Orbán and Mr. Trump. "The president's been very clear about this. There are two pathways that this thing is ultimately going to end, First of all, the United States has largely accomplished its military objectives. There are still some things that we'd like to do — for example, on Iranian ability to manufacture weapons, that we'd like to do a little more work on militarily. But fundamentally, the military objectives of the United States have been completed."
In the first path, Iran makes a deal, Vance said, but if Iran doesn't make a deal and chooses the second path, the economic situation in the country is "going to continue to be very, very bad." Vance insisted Iran is attacking U.S. partners in the Middle East precisely because the U.S. has largely achieved its military objectives and Iran is "trying to extract as much economic pain on the world as possible."
As Vance met with Orbán, Mr. Trump in Washington had a more ominous message for the Iranians.
"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday morning. "I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end."
"God Bless the Great People of Iran!" the president concluded.
While Vance and Orbán held a press conference with reporters in Budapest, the vice president pulled out his phone and said he had a message from U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff about the state of negotiations. "Wouldn't you like to know the subject of this message?" he teased, without revealing the contents.
U.S. forces conducted strikes on military targets on Kharg Island overnight, as Vance confirmed Tuesday.
Vance said he visited Orbán because the two countries are fighting for the "defense of Western civilization," even though Orbán is considered by many Western political experts to be an "illiberal democrat" or an "electoral autocrat." Despite the controversy, Mr. Trump has long lauded Orbán, and Vance did on Tuesday as well. Vance put no daylight between the visions of Hungary and the U.S. for a free, tolerant and prosperous society, instead, showcasing Hungary as a beacon of Western civilization at a time of rampant immigration and liberalism.
"I'm here because of the moral cooperation between our two countries," Vance said. "Because what the United States and Hungary together represent under Viktor's leadership and under President Trump's is the defense of western civilization. The defense of the idea that children should be able to go to school and get educated and not indoctrinated. The defense of the idea that European and American families should be able to transport themselves and be able to afford to heat and cool their homes. The defense of the idea that we are founded on a certain Christian civilization and Christian values that animate everything from freedom of speech to rule of law to respect for minority rights and protection of the vulnerable."
The Hungarian prime minister is seeking his fifth consecutive term in office. Freedom House, a democracy-oriented, U.S.-based nonprofit, designates Hungary as only "partly free," citing issues with less-than-free-and-fair elections and a stifling of independent institutions.
Still, Vance asked the crowd if they would "bend the knee to tyranny," or "proudly stand with St. Stephen and choose a real leader this weekend?" Stephen, one of the first martyrs of the Christian faith, was stoned to death for preaching about Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament.
"Will you stand against the bureaucrats in Brussels?" Vance concluded. "Will you stand for sovereignty and democracy? Will you stand for Western civilization? Will you stand for freedom, for truth and for the God of our fathers? Then my friends, go to the polls in the weekend, stand with Viktor Orbán because he stands for you and he stands for all these things."