United States Vice President JD Vance said that economic pressure is Washington’s “most effective tool” against Iran but noted that it’s a “delicate dance.”

“The most effective tool that we have is the economic pressure we can apply to them. And this is a delicate dance, because we apply economic pressure to them, they’re going to try to apply economic pressure to us,” Vance said on the ‘Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.’

“What has been true over the last couple of weeks is they have felt a lot more pressure than we have,” he added.

Vance acknowledged that oil prices remain elevated due to the Iran war, something consumers would notice at the pumps; however, he said that the Trump administration has been successful in keeping vessels moving in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

“They are trying to close the Strait down, and if we can, you know, 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, some ease at the pump, some ease on energy prices… Meanwhile, the Iranians are punished for shooting at commercial ships. That just applies a lot of economic pressure to them, and that changes their calculus for you know what kind of a deal they want to make,” the US Vice President said.

Applying that pressure, Vance said, is the best way to achieve the “final objective” — Iran not being able to rebuild its nuclear capacity.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that Iran will face the “greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world,” as he threatened secondary sanctions on nations and companies conducting business with Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran has rejected the US’ economic threat saying that such “failed policies” will stir more hostility among Iranians and “bring more failures.”

In a social media post, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi maintained that the threats aim to divert the attention of the US public from domestic financial problems, saying that the US’ “economic terrorism threatens the global economy and the national sovereignty of countries around the world.”