Donald Trump has issued a dramatic warning about potentially dismantling Iran’s civilization, although the exact method—whether through nuclear means, targeted infrastructure strikes, or deploying ground forces—remains undecided. There’s also a possibility that Trump might delay any action, suggesting negotiations are underway. The gravity of the situation is unprecedented, as no sitting U.S. President has ever made such bold military threats in recent history, especially ones involving the destruction of an entire civilization.

‘An entire civilization could be wiped out tonight, never to return,’ Trump announced on social media Tuesday morning, ahead of his 8:00 pm ET deadline for Iran to agree to a deal. ‘I hope it doesn’t come to that, but it seems likely,’ he added. Later, during a Fox News interview, he reiterated the seriousness of the situation, stating, ‘Should it come to that, they will witness an attack like none before.’ As the deadline draws near, Trump is exploring various courses of action with his advisors, ranging from announcing a breakthrough in talks to extending the deadline once more, initiating limited strikes, disrupting key infrastructure, deploying troops, or even resorting to nuclear weapons.

Two individuals with insight into military deliberations, but not part of the administration, expressed concern to the Daily Mail over the potential for a nuclear strike on Iran. When this option was discussed recently, some Pentagon planners remarked that ‘nothing is off the table.’ A third source, a former diplomat familiar with U.S.-Iran dialogues, confirmed that ‘all options remain open,’ but emphasized that using a nuclear weapon lacks military justification in this scenario. During a speech in Hungary on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance seemed to imply that the U.S. nuclear arsenal could indeed be considered against Iran.

‘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.’ Though the White House later claimed on social media that nothing about Vance’s remarks ‘implies’ that nuclear weapons will be used. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says only Trump knows what he’ll do. ‘The Iranian regime has until 8PM Eastern Time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States. Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do,’ she said Tuesday. European allies have also expressed dismay at how ‘erratic’ Trump’s behavior has been amid the conflict.

Still, the use of nuclear warheads to achieve US goals in Iran seems out of the realm, Iran and nuclear proliferation expert Joseph Rodgers told the Daily Mail. ‘Any actual battlefield use of nuclear weapons [is] highly unlikely,’ he said. ‘There’s not really any reason to use nuclear weapons in the conflict right now.’ ‘There’s no reason to use nuclear weapons to accomplish the goal of taking out bridges or power plants. The very, very isolated utility that nuclear weapons could provide is in a target that’s really deeply buried.’ A nuclear strike would be the most extreme route – and the most certain to ensure Iranian civilisation ‘will die,’ as the President puts it. More realistic, perhaps, is a sustained campaign against Iranian infrastructure, which Trump has repeatedly and explicitly threatened.

‘We’re giving them tomorrow, eight o’clock ET, and after that, they’re going to have no bridges, they’re going to have no power plants — the stone ages.’ Trump first made that threat last Monday. Such strikes would fall hardest on Iranian civilians, not its military. ‘We will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched,” he wrote. Even a limited strike on these sites could provoke Iran to retaliate against Gulf nations, unleashing far wider chaos and bloodshed. Hitting Iran’s desalination plants would destroy the drinking water supply for a portion of its population – and, critically, hand Iran a pretext to strike back at Gulf nations’ own water and energy infrastructure.

For Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain – each dependent on desalination for over 90 per cent of their water – that scenario would trigger a race to evacuate millions before mass dehydration sets in, several experts told the Daily Mail. If Iran’s power grid is targeted, ‘the entire region and Saudi Arabia will fall into complete darkness with Iran’s retaliatory strikes,’ a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Tuesday. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts are fraying. Iran severed talks with the US on Tuesday, Middle Eastern officials told the Wall Street Journal, though they stressed a resolution before the 8:00 pm ET deadline remains possible. The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,606 civilians, including 244 children, have been killed during the war with Iran as of last week. The White House declined to comment on the record.