Trump’s threat to kill ‘whole civilisation’ and comments from VP Vance have raised fears the White House is rattling the nuclear sabre.
The White House has denied that it has any plans to use nuclear weapons against Iran as a deadline imposed by President Donald Trump for Tehran to make a deal or face a massive onslaught looms.
The denial from Washington came on Tuesday, as the president employed apocalyptic language. Insisting that Iran capitulate to his demands, Trump warned that a “whole civilisation will die tonight”.
Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro called on Trump to immediately make it clear that he is not considering using nuclear weapons.
Vice President JD Vance later said that US forces could employ tools they “so far haven’t decided to use”. That spurred an account associated with former Vice President Kamala Harris to assert that Vance implied Trump “might use nuclear weapons”.
“Literally nothing @VP said here ‘implies’ this, you absolute buffoons,” a social media post by the White House retorted.
However, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared less certain when asked by the AFP news agency if Trump was prepared to use a nuclear weapon.
“Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do,” she said in a statement.
The original ultimatum was made by Trump on Saturday, when he demanded that Iran make a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global energy exports pass, or face an assault on key infrastructure, including power plants and bridges.
The deadline falls at 8pm Eastern time (00:00 GMT). Legal experts say targeting civilian infrastructure could amount to a war crime.
US denies nuclear plan as deadline on threat to Iran ‘civilisation’ looms
Al Jazeera English
Trump’s threat to kill ‘whole civilization’ and comments from VP have raised fears.