Trump rules out using nuclear weapon against Iran amid impasse in talks

US President Donald Trump denied Thursday mulling the use of a nuclear weapon amid the stalled US-Israeli war with Iran, saying such weapons should never be employed in war.

“Why do I need it? Why would a stupid question like that be asked? Why would I use a nuclear weapon when we’ve totally, in a very conventional way, decimated them without it?” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question on whether he would use a doomsday weapon on Iran.

“No, I wouldn’t use it. A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody,” he added.

Asked about his decision to extend the ongoing ceasefire with Iran amid an impasse in negotiations with Tehran, Trump said he wanted to “give them a little chance to get some of their turmoil resolved.”

“They want to make a deal. We have been speaking to them, but they don’t even know who is leading the country. They’re in turmoil,” he said.

In response, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied Trump’s claims of internal divisions in Iran.

“There are no hardliners or moderates in Iran. We are all Iranians and revolutionaries,” Pezeshkian said on the US social media company X’s platform.

He stressed that there is “a solid unity like steel between the people and the state.”

Pezeshkian vowed that Tehran would make “the aggressor regret its actions.”

Asked how long Americans should anticipate having to pay higher gas prices caused by the war, Trump said “for a little while.”

“And you know what they get for that? 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.