US President Donald Trump has ruled out the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, saying such weapons should never be deployed despite heightened tensions between the two nations.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump dismissed the possibility of authorising a nuclear strike.
“No, I wouldn’t use it,” he said when asked if the United States would consider deploying nuclear weapons against Iran.
“Why would I use a nuclear weapon when we’ve, in a very conventional way, decimated them without it?” Trump added.
“A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”
The statement follows earlier remarks by Trump on April 7 in which he warned that an entire civilisation in Iran could be destroyed during the conflict. Within hours of the threat, however, he agreed to a ceasefire that has since been extended in the war launched by the United States and Israel.
During the conflict, US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was prepared to escalate military pressure on Iran using weapons not previously deployed.
The White House later clarified that the remarks did not constitute a threat to use nuclear weapons.
Vance had also pushed for stronger concessions from Tehran in negotiations over its controversial nuclear programme.
Trump told reporters his objective remains preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“We want an Iran without a nuclear weapon that’s going to try and blow up one of our cities or blow up the entire Middle East,” he said.
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking to build nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency has previously said that while Iran’s nuclear activities raised concerns, an atomic bomb was not considered imminent before the conflict.
The United States remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons in warfare, when it dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, killing an estimated 214,000 people.
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, although the country has never officially confirmed or denied having them.
Trump’s statement that nuclear weapons should never be used appears to differ from longstanding US nuclear doctrine, which reserves the right to deploy nuclear arms under extreme circumstances.
The president has previously advocated ending a US moratorium on nuclear testing, citing allegations that China and Russia were conducting secret tests.
Former US president Barack Obama had earlier promoted the long-term vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. However, his administration maintained that the United States would retain its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent for as long as such weapons exist.
The United States has also consistently rejected proposals to formally adopt a “no first use” policy that would rule out initiating a nuclear strike in a conflict.
