Vance says : we have made good progress with Iran

No new strikes. No fresh deadline. For now, that’s where things stand between Washington and Tehran.

On Monday, US Vice President JD Vance said talks with Iran have made some progress, and that the United States is waiting to see if more can be achieved. It’s a notably calmer tone than the strike warnings that have dominated the headlines for weeks, including Trump’s decision to delay Iran strikes to give talks more time, reported just a day earlier.

To understand why this matters, it helps to rewind a little.

How we got here

For most of October, the talk out of Washington was about strikes, not talks. President Trump repeatedly warned that military action against Iran was possible, at one point saying a strike could come “tomorrow” while still leaving the door open to a deal, as we reported on 25 October. Around the same time, the US military chief presented Trump with new Iran strike options, and reports surfaced that Washington was even considering the so-called “Mother of All Bombs” as part of its plans.

Iran, for its part, did not back down in its own messaging. Tehran warned that any next war with the US could last even longer than before, a warning we covered on 1 November, and separately issued fresh warnings aimed at both the US and Israel.

Then, just a day before Vance’s comments, Trump said he was delaying any strikes to give negotiations more room to work. That shift set the stage for Monday’s more hopeful update.

What Vance actually said

Speaking on Monday, Vance confirmed that some progress has been made in the talks with Iran. He said Washington is now watching closely to see whether that progress can be built on further.

Importantly, Vance said the US has not set any deadlines for resuming strikes against Iran. He described the talks with the Iranian side as good, a notably softer choice of words than much of the language used by US officials in recent weeks.

Vance also said he had spoken with Trump about an hour before making his remarks, suggesting the two were coordinating closely on how to present the state of negotiations. He added that he sensed real interest among Iranians in matters of sovereignty and in rebuilding their economy, hinting that economic issues, not just military ones, are part of what’s being discussed.

He did not give details on where the talks are being held, who is involved on the Iranian side, or what a possible deal might include. Those details are not yet confirmed.

Why this matters if you live in Kuwait

Kuwait sits right next to this story, geographically and economically. Every time tension rises between the US and Iran, people here start asking the same questions: will shipping through the Gulf be affected, will fuel and goods prices move, and is there any safety risk closer to home. We looked at these questions in more detail in our explainer on what rising Iran war tensions mean for people in Kuwait.

Vance’s comments don’t remove that uncertainty, but they do lower the temperature a little. No deadline for strikes means no clear countdown clock hanging over the region this week. That’s a small but real difference for anyone who has been watching the news with some unease.

There’s also a regional angle. Reports on 2 November pointed to intensive consultations involving Qatar and Pakistan around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that much of the Gulf’s oil shipping passes through. You can read more in our coverage of the Qatar and Pakistan talks on the Strait of Hormuz. Anything that affects that route matters directly to Kuwait, since it sits along the same shipping lanes.

For the fuller picture of how we reached this point, including Trump’s earlier statement that the Iran war “isn’t over yet”, our international news coverage has been tracking each step as it happened.

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