JD Vance rebukes Israel after Iran deal: ‘You can’t just kill your way out’

US Vice President JD Vance has defended the Trump administration's agreement with Iran while delivering some of his strongest criticism yet of Israel's approach to security.

Speaking to The New York Times on Thursday, a day after US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict, Vance responded to criticism from Israeli officials.

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“And I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have,” he said.

Vance urged Israel to allow diplomacy to continue and to “give a little bit of credit to the United States of America, which I think has been an incredible partner for the Israeli government for a long time”.

His comments came after Trump also criticised Israel's tactics during the conflict, saying from the G7 Summit in France: “Too many people have been killed.”

At a separate news conference, Vance described the agreement with Iran as a victory for Washington, arguing the conflict had weakened Tehran's military and nuclear capabilities.

“If the Iranians don’t change their behaviour, their military and their nuclear programme is still destroyed. If they do change their behaviour, then they are going to have a transformative relationship with the Middle East,” he said.