Published On 7 Apr 2026
The White House has denied that it has any plans to use nuclear weapons towards Iran as a deadline imposed by President Donald Trump for Tehran to make a deal or face an enormous onslaught looms.
The denial from Washington got here on Tuesday, as the president employed apocalyptic language. Insisting that Iran capitulate to his calls for, Trump warned {that a} “whole civilisation will die tonight”.
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Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro referred to as on Trump to instantly make it clear that he’s not contemplating utilizing nuclear weapons.
Vice President JD Vance later mentioned that US forces might make use of instruments they “so far haven’t decided to use”. That spurred an account related to 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 publish by the White House retorted.
However, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared much less sure when requested by the AFP information company if Trump was ready to use a nuclear weapon.
“Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do,” she mentioned in an announcement.
The unique ultimatum was made by Trump on Saturday, when he demanded that Iran make a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz, by way of which a few fifth of world power exports go, or face an assault on key infrastructure, together with energy crops and bridges.
The deadline falls at 8pm Eastern time (00:00 GMT). Legal specialists say focusing on civilian infrastructure might quantity to a war crime.
‘Beyond the region’
“A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” mentioned Trump on his TruthSocial on Tuesday. However, he mentioned, “something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight.”
However, the Iranian response has been defiant. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) mentioned it is not going to hesitate to reply in form if the US assaults civilian amenities.
“We will do to the infrastructure of America and its partners what will deprive them and their allies of the region’s oil and gas for many years,” the IRGC mentioned in an announcement.
Washington fails to calculate the vital belongings that will be inside Iranian fireplace vary, it mentioned. “Our response will extend beyond the region if the US military crosses our red lines.”
President Masoud Pezeskhian mentioned that greater than 14 million Iranians, together with himself, have volunteered to struggle to defend Iran.
The fiery threats, which have reached a feverish peak, between the US president and Iranian officers come as Israel-US strikes on Iran and Iranian assaults throughout the area and Israel intensified.
Vance confirmed on Tuesday that US strikes focused navy infrastructure on Iran’s Kharg Island, a key power export hub, though he mentioned that oil amenities weren’t hit.
The island, a tiny one within the north of the Gulf, is the place about 90 p.c of Iranian oil is exported from. Seizing it or destroying oil storage tanks and pumping amenities would take away a key financial lifeline to the IRGC.
This is the second time the US has struck Kharg. On March 14, Washington claimed to have “totally obliterated” all navy targets there, with Trump saying that he had chosen not to “wipe out” the oil infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned the Israeli military had struck railways and bridges in Iran, and the navy confirmed it had attacked bridge sections in a number of areas throughout the nation, claiming that they have been utilized by the IRGC to transport weapons and navy gear.
Bearing the brunt
In Israel, sirens sounded within the north and south as missiles and drones have been launched by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in accordance to Israeli media stories.
Gulf nations, within the meantime, proceed to bear the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory assaults.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait mentioned they intercepted drones all through the day, whereas the United Arab Emirates mentioned it was responding to an Iranian ballistic missile that focused an administrative constructing of a telecommunication firm.
Still, mediating nations appear to be hoping {that a} diplomatic breakthrough might nonetheless be made.
In the early hours of Tuesday, Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, mentioned efforts to cease the war have been approaching a “critical, sensitive” stage, with out providing extra particulars.
His feedback got here after Iran proposed on Monday a 10-point peace plan to finish the war, which Trump referred to as a “significant step” however “not good enough”.
