U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to members of the media before boarding Air Force Two, after the U.S. and Iran held high-level talks at the Lake Lucerne Summit, at Emmen Military Air Base June 22, 2026 in Emmen, Switzerland.

Nathan Howard | Getty Images

Economic pressure is the United States’ “most effective tool” against Iran, according to U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Speaking on a podcast, Vance said that the move was “a delicate dance” as both sides apply pressure to each other, but added that “what has been true over the last couple of weeks is they felt a lot more pressure than we have.”

His comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will launch what he called the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country” against Iran. Trump also threatened severe financial penalties on any nation that helps Tehran evade sanctions, and added that “this will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.”

Vance, in his remarks, said pump prices for Americans are still elevated, but claimed that they have come down “substantially” because the U.S. has managed to get “a lot of oil and gas out” of the Strait of Hormuz due to the assistance of its military.

However, recently observed ship traffic through Hormuz has remained low, with 10 crossings on Monday and two transits on Sunday, according to data provided by the trade intelligence firm Kpler.

Before the war, average ship transits through the Strait were about 130 ships a day.

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Iran’s main leverage, Vance said, was access into the Strait, adding “if we can, not even get it back to where it was before, but if we can get enough oil and gas out to give some Americans some ease at the pumps, some ease on energy prices.”

Iran was being punished for shooting at commercial ships and the U.S. will make sure that Iranian forces are not able to do that, Vance said.

“I think we’ve been quite successful,” he claimed. His words echoed Trump’s Truth Social post, which said Iran was already “on the ropes.”

“Do they want to have their economy strangled for the rest of time, or do they want to have a better relationship with the West? That’s always been the option that the president has put to these guys,” Vance said.

— CNBC’s Anniek Bao and Chloe Taylor contributed to this report.

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