Shortly before US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spurred fresh fears that he’ll use nuclear weapons in his illegal war on Iran, Vice President JD Vance told a Christian podcaster that he’s fine with the administration’s work leading to the end times.

“Do I think that we’re in the end times? I don’t know,” Vance told 22-year-old podcaster Bryce Crawford nearly an hour into a lengthy video interview released Monday. While admitting his fascination with the theories, the VP said that “I think that it’s probably bad for me, spiritually, to focus too much on it.”

As The New Republic’s Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling explained: “The Christian end times refer to the religion’s interpretations of the final days of humanity. That’s detailed in the Bible as a period involving widespread turmoil and deception (such as wars, earthquakes, and a false prophet), a seven-year stretch of unprecedented hardship known as the Great Tribulation that will end in Armageddon, the emergence of the Antichrist and a cadre of their followers who reject Christ’s teachings, and a final judgment by God.”

As Vance sat beside a propped-up edition of his new book on his religious journey, including his conversion to Catholicism, he said that “I think that there are… things about the world that make me feel like not shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us, but again, I try not to focus too much on it.”

“One of the things that I think that Catholics are very focused on, that I think is very good for me, is this idea that… we don’t know when God is coming, but we’re commanded to try to do as much as possible, try to make the world the kind of world that God wants it to be,” the vice president continued.

“While I wouldn’t be shocked if we are living in the end times,” he added, “what I’m trying to focus on is doing as much of God’s work as possible right now, and if that leads to the end times, OK, and if that leads to, you know, us building a better world that thrives and survives for a very long time after I’m gone, that’s great, too.”

Those remarks—from a man expected to compete with figures such as Donald Trump Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the GOP’s 2028 presidential nomination, if the president doesn’t try for an unconstitutional third term—were met with alarm.

Critics wrote that “this should concern us all” and wondered: “WTF does that mean? Is he OK with using nuclear weapons?”

Sharing a clip of Vance’s comments on social media, Iranian-American writer Alex Shams noted that “these guys are trying to convince you Iran is ruled by a crazed messianic theocracy.”

Podcaster and writer Katie Halper said, “Show this clip to anyone who says Iran is run by religious lunatics.”

As Vance’s video interview began circulating on Monday, over six months into the Iran War, a reporter in the Oval Office asked Trump if he’s ruled out using a nuclear weapon against the Mideast country.

While suggesting he has ruled out nuclear war, Trump also said: “What a stupid question that is, actually. Here they are, they’re totally defeated militarily, so now I defeat them, and now I should use a nuclear weapon on top of them?”

Just a day later, Trump triggered speculation that he’ll pursue a nuclear attack. On Tuesday, while bombing alleged Iranian military targets, he wrote on his Truth Social platform, “If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!”

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