US Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that a foreign influence campaign had been funded to derail negotiations he was pursuing with Iran.
"There's a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to tank the very deal that I was pursuing," Vance said on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, citing a report published by Time Magazine on Monday.
"Many of the people who were receiving that money were actually attacking me in completely dishonest ways. You know, my response to that is: 'Well, go to hell'. I'm going to do what I have to do for the American people,” he said. “I represent Americans first, and that's the way that I've tried to do this job.”
Vance said, citing the Time Magazine article, that a former Trump campaign person, who he said had been paid by “certain elements within the Israeli government,” had mounted attacks against him for pursuing negotiations with Iran.
"They're attacking me obsessively, saying that we should not be negotiating with Iran," he said.
"What I'm actually trying to do is accomplish what the President of the United States told me to accomplish, which is a settlement that accomplishes our objectives. Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon. We have the free flow of oil and gas," he added.
Vance said foreign governments routinely attempt to influence US policy, but what troubled him was when American leaders let such influence "affect their judgment."
He said Israel was "losing the public opinion battle" in the US, a point he said President Donald Trump had made publicly as well.
"I'm actually just the guy advocating for a normal relationship with a normal country that's based around shared interest," Vance said, adding that Israel's ambassador to Washington "cares about Israel first," while "I care about America first."
