Mary Bruce, the chief White House correspondent for ABC News, pressed Vice President JD Vance hard during Thursday’s White House press briefing about how he can claim Iran only reaps rewards for good behavior, but will receive immediate relief on being able to sell oil on the open market.

Bruce noted, “You say that Iran will only reap economic rewards if they comply and change their behavior. But under this deal, they are being allowed now to sell their oil freely. Again, how is that not a financial benefit?”

“And they’re being allowed to do that without making any new concrete nuclear commitments. So can you explain how is not lopsided?” Bruce asked.

“Well, first of all, they’ve made very concrete nuclear commitments. They have committed to the destruction of the highly enriched stockpile that they have in their possession. But number two, all we’ve done is lift the blockade and the strait support — we basically returned it to where it was before the conflict. The blockade is off,” Vance insisted, adding:

We put that in after the conflict started. The straits are now open. That’s not a new benefit to the Iranians. They were selling oil for many, many years, well before we ever put the blockade. We opposed that blockade. They stopped selling oil, and now we’ve lifted the blockade in order to promote the free flow of energy across the world.

Vance then moved on to another question.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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