White House clarifies JD Vance's nuclear weapons claim after Trump warns 'whole civilisation will die'

The White House has been forced to speak out after US vice-president JD Vance's recent remarks upped the temperature in the ongoing war with Iran.

There are just hours remaining until President Donald Trump's deadline for Iran to strike a peace deal - which is set for 8pm tonight Washington time (that's 1am on Wednesday, GMT).

He's said they must agree to a deal he finds acceptable, which must include reopening the Strait of Hormuz, or he'll launch missile strikes targeting their bridges and power plants.

"Very little is off-limits," he warned this week.

Trump's second in command, Vance, sparked concerns the conflict could turn nuclear following comments he made during a press conference today (7 April) in Budapest alongside Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.

He said: "Whether it's positive or negative, we're going to get a response from the Iranians by 8pm tonight.

"I hope they make the right response because what we really want is a world where oil and gas is flowing freely, where people can afford to heat their homes and cool their homes, where people can afford to transport themselves to work.

"That's not going to happen if the Iranians are engaged in acts of economic terrorism.

"So 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."

Such is the heat surrounding these comments, a social media X account linked to Kamala Harris subsequently accused Vance of implying a potential major attack by the States.

JD Vance doubles down on Trump’s new post threatening “a whole civilization will die tonight” and implies Trump might use nuclear weapons pic.twitter.com/GbxU602u6n

— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) April 7, 2026

The White House has since spoken up via its Rapid Response 47 account on X, writing: "Literally nothing @VP said here 'implies' this, you absolute buffoons."

This comes as the president claimed a 'whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again', should the Iranians not kneel to his wishes.

He added on Truth Social: "I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?

"We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!"

This quickly gained the attention of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, who fired back at the US leader.

"We were alarmed by the rhetoric seen in that social media post that threatened American attacks on power plants, bridges, and other infrastructure, should Iran not agree to a deal," he noted.

"The Secretary-General has been very clear on issues regarding international law, [...] and he recalls that civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure, may not be attacked; even if specific civilian infrastructure were to qualify as a military objective, international humanitarian law would still prohibit attacks against them if they may be expected to cause excessive incidental civilian harm."

Dujarric deemed this devastating move a violation of international law.