Trump rules out hitting Iran with nuclear weapons…

US President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out hitting Iran with a nuclear weapon, following his previous threats to completely destroy Iranian civilisation.

“No, I wouldn’t use it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“Why would I use a nuclear weapon when, in a very conventional way, we have decimated them without it?” he asked.

“A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anyone.”

Trump on April 7 issued a genocidal threat to Iran that “an entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back,” but within hours he agreed to a ceasefire that he has since extended in the war launched by the United States and Israel.

Vice President J.D. Vance warned during the conflict that the United States was ready to escalate damage against Iran with previously unused weapons, but the White House denied that he was threatening nuclear strikes.

Vance, in the failed negotiations, had pushed Iran for more concessions on its disputed nuclear project.

Trump told reporters he is looking for an Iran “without a nuclear weapon that will try to blow up one of our cities or blow up the entire Middle East.”

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and the United Nations nuclear watchdog says an atomic bomb was not imminent before the war.

The United States is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in combat, destroying the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, killing an estimated 214,000 people.

It is widely known that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, but does not publicly acknowledge them.

Nigeria handles only 25% of West Africa’s (NPA) freight traffic.

Trump’s blanket statement against any nuclear use would appear to be at odds with long-standing U.S. nuclear doctrine, which reserves the right to use nuclear weapons.

Trump has already called for an end to the US moratorium on nuclear tests in response to US accusations of secret tests by China and Russia.

Former President Barack Obama had hoped for the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons, but his administration also said that as long as they exist, the US arsenal will serve as a deterrent.

The United States has rejected calls to declare it will never first use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

AFP

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