Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi issued a stark warning against the use of nuclear weapons, and even a speech to that effect, on Tuesday, as the military conflict between the United States and Iran entered a dangerous new phase ahead of President Donald Trump’s fresh threats just an hour before his “deadline” for Iran to reopen the key oil route in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Wars are tragic, but they remain a reality,” Gandhi said in a statement on Channel X.
He added: “Any language or action that contemplates the end of civilization is unacceptable in the modern world. The use of nuclear weapons can never be justified – under any circumstances.”
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The statement came hours after Trump issued one of his most troubling statements yet in the ongoing US-Iran conflict.
“An entire civilization will die tonight,” he declared, setting 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday (5:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday) as a deadline for Tehran to reopen the Persian Gulf waterway or face strikes on civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges.
Theories and fears of the use of nuclear weapons emerged after US Vice President J.D. Vance warned that Washington had “additional tools in our toolkit” that could be deployed against Tehran. The White House later on Tuesday rejected those theories, saying that “literally nothing,” Vance said, implied that the United States would use nuclear weapons.
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Trump had previously told reporters that “the entire country of Iran” “could be taken out in one night.”
When asked whether strikes on civilian infrastructure would amount to war crimes, Trump said he was “not concerned” about that; He stressed that the “real” war crime is “allowing Iran to possess a nuclear weapon.”
Tehran has maintained for years that its nuclear program is intended to generate energy and not to make bombs. But Trump rejected this and violated previous American agreements with Iran.
Narendra Modi’s government has maintained a deliberate “strategic autonomy” that critics, including Gandhi and his Congress party, have described as insufficient and “immoral”.
Officially, India urged all parties to exercise restraint, with Prime Minister Modi calling for continued “dialogue and diplomacy.” Tehran has asked India to intervene in BRICS, as Delhi currently chairs the group.
Rahul Gandhi had earlier described the Modi government’s foreign policy as a “joke”, especially after reports emerged of neighboring Pakistan positioning itself as a key mediator to end the war.
The conflict has caused some immediate economic pain for India, as it has for many other countries due to oil pressure. This has resulted in a shortage of LPG supplies to commercial users.
The opposition in particular questioned why Modi visited Israel just two days before the war began and pledged solidarity in general.
But the BJP-led government said in an all-party meeting that Prime Minister Modi had told President Trump that the war should end soon. India has kept its channels open with Iran as well, even allowing oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a “friendly” gesture.
Modi also told Parliament: “From the beginning, we have expressed our deep concern over this conflict. I have personally spoken to all relevant leaders in West Asia. I have urged them to reduce tensions and end the conflict. India has opposed attacks on civilians, energy and transport-related infrastructure.” In this statement, he condemned the obstruction of the Strait (by Iran), but he did not mention Iran by name, nor did he mention the American-Israeli strikes per se. The Congress-led opposition withdrew, demanding a fuller debate.
India first tested nuclear weapons when Indira Gandhi, Rahul’s grandmother, was Prime Minister in 1974; A second round of tests was conducted in 1998 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister in a BJP-led coalition regime. The country has maintained a No First Use (NFU) policy regardless of which party is in power.
