The White House on Tuesday denied that remarks by Vice President JD Vance about military operations in Iran had contained any suggestion of a US nuclear strike against the Islamic Republic.
JD Vance on Tuesday warned Iran that US forces have tools they "so far haven't decided to use" against the Islamic Republic, to enforce a dramatic ultimatum from President Donald Trump.
"They've got to know we've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use," Vance said. Trump "will decide to use them if the Iranians don't change their course of conduct."
However, the White House posted on X, "Literally nothing @VP said here 'implies' this, you absolute buffoons".
The post was in response to one from an account associated with former vice president Kamala Harris that said Vance implied Trump "might use nuclear weapons."
Donald Trump is the only person who knows his plans for Iran, the White House said.
"The Iranian regime has until 8 PM Eastern Time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to AFP, when asked if Trump was prepared to use a nuclear weapon, and about a report that Iran had cut off negotiations.
"Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do."
President Donald Trump warned that "a whole civilization will die" in Iran on Tuesday if the country does not heed his ultimatum to accept US war demands.
"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump did not give details but he has already said the US military could bomb Iran's bridges, power plants and other civilian infrastructure into the "stone age."
Trump has announced a deadline of midnight GMT Tuesday for Iran to end its de facto closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow, strategic waterway used to transport oil and other commodities.
Iran has rejected US pressure, with state media reporting that the authorities are insisting that instead of just a cease-fire it wants a full end to the war.
(With inputs from AFP)