US Vice President J.D. Vance on 7 April warned that the United States “has means” it has not yet used against Iran.
“The United States has achieved its military objectives,” Vance said while in Hungary, where he travelled to meet Prime Minister Viktor Orban, adding that the situation was now up to Tehran and further steps remained under consideration.
“We have tools at our disposal that we have not yet decided to use,” he said, stressing that the United States retains additional options. Vance added that the US president could decide to take action if Iran does not change course.
Vance did not provide details on how the tools would do so.
Earlier today, US President Donald Trump warned that “an entire civilisation will die tonight” if Iran fails to reach an agreement with the United States before its deadline.
Trump’s threat came after his preliminary statements that the United States would attack Iranian power plants and bridges, and just hours after US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, including on infrastructure and the strategically important Kharq Island.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that US and allied infrastructure across the region will be targeted if the United States crosses red lines.
The IRGC also warned U.S. partners in the Persian Gulf and beyond, saying the restraint shown on neighbouring states “with good neighbourly relations” was now over and that “all such considerations have been removed” – a signal that Gulf Arab states could host entire U.S. assets.
Trump announced a deadline of 8 p.m. Eastern Time on 7 April (night of 8 April Kiev time), warning that “the entire country ” Iran “could be destroyed overnight.”
Last week, Donald Trump threatened to send Iran “back to the stone age” with large-scale strikes on Iranian infrastructure if Tehran did not meet a deadline set by the US president and conclude an agreement or reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
On 6 April, Pakistan handed over its version of a peace plan to the US and Iran, Reuters reported, citing sources. According to the agency’s interlocutors, Islamabad, as mediator, proposed an immediate ceasefire to resume shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and then give the parties 15-20 days to negotiate a broader agreement that would include a pledge by Iran not to develop nuclear weapons in exchange.
Iran has proposed a 10-point plan that rejects a temporary truce, calls for a permanent cessation of hostilities, security guarantees and sanctions relief.