diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 06c8d9a17..853110bfb 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ Contributors:
     * Shayan Golshani (shgol)
     * Tommi Kyntölä (kynde)
     * Diego
+    * VXNCXNX
 
 Creator:
 --------
diff --git a/changelog.rst b/changelog.rst
index 0c3905e38..f45af4ba8 100644
--- a/changelog.rst
+++ b/changelog.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ Bug fixes:
 * Fix ``TypeError: cannot use a string pattern on a bytes-like object`` when
   completion metadata comes back as bytes (e.g. ``SQL_ASCII`` client encoding).
 * Suggest columns, not datatypes, after a column literally named ``type`` in a ``SELECT`` list.
+* Detect an unconditional ``UPDATE`` with ``sqlparse`` rather than splitting on whitespace, so a
+  ``WHERE`` appearing inside a string literal no longer suppresses the destructive-statement warning.
 
 Features:
 ---------
diff --git a/pgcli/packages/parseutils/__init__.py b/pgcli/packages/parseutils/__init__.py
index 434a4cc73..daecc189a 100644
--- a/pgcli/packages/parseutils/__init__.py
+++ b/pgcli/packages/parseutils/__init__.py
@@ -20,10 +20,25 @@ def query_starts_with(formatted_sql, prefixes):
     return bool(formatted_sql) and formatted_sql.split()[0] in prefixes
 
 
-def query_is_unconditional_update(formatted_sql):
-    """Check if the query starts with UPDATE and contains no WHERE."""
-    tokens = formatted_sql.split()
-    return bool(tokens) and tokens[0] == "update" and "where" not in tokens
+def query_is_unconditional_update(query):
+    """Check if the query starts with UPDATE and contains no top-level WHERE clause.
+
+    Uses sqlparse's parse tree (rather than naive whitespace splitting) so that
+    the word "where" appearing inside a string literal, comment, or a nested
+    subquery doesn't get mistaken for an actual WHERE clause.
+    """
+    statements = sqlparse.parse(query)
+    if not statements:
+        return False
+    statement = statements[0]
+
+    first_token = statement.token_first(skip_cm=True)
+    if first_token is None or first_token.ttype is not sqlparse.tokens.DML:
+        return False
+    if first_token.value.upper() != "UPDATE":
+        return False
+
+    return not any(isinstance(token, sqlparse.sql.Where) for token in statement.tokens)
 
 
 def is_destructive(queries, keywords):
@@ -31,7 +46,7 @@ def is_destructive(queries, keywords):
     for query in sqlparse.split(queries):
         if query:
             formatted_sql = sqlparse.format(query.lower(), strip_comments=True).strip()
-            if "unconditional_update" in keywords and query_is_unconditional_update(formatted_sql):
+            if "unconditional_update" in keywords and query_is_unconditional_update(query):
                 return True
             if query_starts_with(formatted_sql, keywords):
                 return True
diff --git a/tests/parseutils/test_parseutils.py b/tests/parseutils/test_parseutils.py
index 90749ebfc..02341125f 100644
--- a/tests/parseutils/test_parseutils.py
+++ b/tests/parseutils/test_parseutils.py
@@ -285,6 +285,28 @@ def test_is_destructive(sql, keywords, expected):
     assert is_destructive(sql, keywords) == expected
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("sql", "expected"),
+    [
+        # A "where" appearing inside a string literal must not be mistaken
+        # for a WHERE clause (regression test for the unconditional UPDATE
+        # confirmation bypass).
+        ("update accounts set note = 'no where clause here'", True),
+        ("update t set c = 'nowhere'", True),
+        ("update accounts set balance = 0", True),
+        ("update accounts set balance = 0 where id = 1", False),
+        ("UPDATE t SET c = 1", True),
+        ("-- where\nupdate t set c = 1", True),
+        ("select * from t", False),
+        ("", False),
+        # A WHERE inside a subquery does not make the outer UPDATE conditional.
+        ("update t set c = (select x from y where z = 1)", True),
+    ],
+)
+def test_is_destructive_unconditional_update_string_literal(sql, expected):
+    assert is_destructive(sql, ["unconditional_update"]) == expected
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     ("warning_level", "expected"),
     [