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White House rules out nuclear weapons in Iran amid uncertainty over peace talks
The speculations of a nuclear attack grew stronger after JD Vance warned that the US has “tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use”.
As US President Donald trump's deadline looms with uncertainty over peace talks, all eyes are on Washington's next move in the ongoing West Asia conflict.
While the US President warned Iran that its “whole civilisation will die tonight” if it fails to reach a satisfactory agreement by Tuesday, 8 pm, there have been clear apprehensions over a possible nuclear attack.
The speculations grew stronger after US Vice President J D Vance warned that the US has “tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use” against Iran.
Follow latest updates on US Iran war
Shortly after, the White House issued a clarification over Vance's remark, denying the use of nuclear weapons.
Talking of Trump's deadline, Vance said if Iranians engaged in acts of “economic terrorism”, they've got to what that “we've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use”.
"The President of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don't change their course of conduct,” Vance added.
Also Read: ‘Tomorrow Inshallah’: Iran after Trump's 'civilization will die' threat
After Vance remarks, the White House in a post on X, said, "Literally nothing @VP said here 'implies' this, you absolute buffoons."
In a later statement, the White House said “only the president knows” what he'll do on Iran.
Uncertainty over peace talks
Even as few hours remain before Trump's deadline, there is an uncertainty over whether the two sides will arrive at peace talks.
According to the Wall Street Journal, negotiators are pessimistic Iran will bend to meet Trump’s demand to reopen the Strait of Hormuz before the deadline.
An Axios report citing White House official said progress has been made between the two countries in the past 24 hours in the negotiations, however, adding that a ceasefire by 8 pm Tuesday looks “like a long shot”.
A US official told Axios that the thinking in the White House has shifted from "can we get there?" to "can we get there by 8 o'clock tonight?"
Meanwhile, the negotiations are underway in Pakistan as the country makes last-ditch efforts to arrive at a peace proposal before the end of deadline. However, the peace talks faces threat if Saudi Arabia were to retaliate as a defence pack between Riyadh and Islamabad would draw Pakistan directly into conflict against Iran, Reuters said, citing sources.
However, Iran's state-run Tehran Times has said that diplomatic and indirect channels of talks with the US are not closed.
Tehran responds
Iran has issued response to Trump's ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ threat by saying, "civilizations don’t die by bombing".
In a social media post, the Iranian Embassy in Thailand said, “Civilizations don't die by bombing, Keyboard President. Iran is the constant in this changing world and will emerge stronger.”
