White House Shuts Down Nuke Talk After Incendiary Trump Threat Sparks Uproar

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The White House denied suggestions that President Donald Trump is considering a nuclear strike on Iran on Tuesday after comments made by Vice President JD Vance in Hungary sparked uproar online in the wake of the president’s incendiary threat.

Speaking to an audience during his visit to Hungary, Vance said the U.S. had “largely accomplished its military objectives” in Iran but signaled further escalation remained possible if the Iranian regime didn’t “change their course of conduct.”

He then warned that Washington still has military options it “so far” hasn’t “decided to use” as a deadline for talks set by Trump approaches. The comments also came as the president escalated his rhetoric online, threatening that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if a deal is not reached.

“They’ve got to know 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,” he said.

The remarks prompted claims on social media that the vice president was hinting at the potential use of nuclear weapons.

One account linked to Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign social media account, rebranded to Headquarters, @HQNewsNow, posted: “JD Vance doubles down on Trump’s new post threatening ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ and implies Trump might use nuclear weapons.”

The White House swiftly rejected that interpretation in an unusually blunt response on X: “Literally nothing @VP said here ‘implies’ this, you absolute buffoons.”

Concluding his remarks in Hungary, Vance added he was “hopeful” negotiations could avert further action, noting “there’s going to be a lot of negotiation between now and then” before Trump’s imposed negotiations deadline expires at 8 p.m. ET.

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