United States President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Washington may attack Iran\u2019s heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain \u201cvery soon,\u201d escalating rhetoric against the underground site located near the damaged Natanz enrichment complex. Hours after the threat, Iranian news outlet Khabar Fouri reported that four US missiles struck an oil tanker near Kharg Island, a critical hub handling approximately 90 percent of Iran\u2019s oil exports.<\/p>\n
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump claimed US forces possess knowledge of all personnel moving at Pickaxe Mountain and across Iran. These remarks mirror a threat issued in mid-July on the Hugh Hewitt Show, where Trump stated, \u201cWe\u2019re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready \u2026 We\u2019ll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renewed threats arrive more than six months into the conflict initiated by the US and Israel on February 28. Despite the ongoing hostilities, Trump has attempted to minimize the scale of the war, referring to it as \u201csmall potatoes.\u201d Vice President JD Vance similarly downplayed the intensity of the conflict during a White House briefing, stating he \u201cwouldn\u2019t call it a war\u201d and asserting there was \u201cno active shooting right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, diplomatic efforts have stalled. A 60-day negotiating window for Iran\u2019s nuclear program expired in mid-August without an agreement. Iran maintains it is not conducting work at the Natanz site, while its Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters warned that bombing the nearby mountain would constitute a renewal of regional war.<\/p>\n
Pickaxe Mountain, known locally as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, is situated roughly 220 kilometers south of Tehran in Isfahan province, just two kilometers from Natanz. US intelligence indicates the facility features tunnels excavated deep within granite rock, with main chambers located at least 100 meters underground to protect against bunker-busting bombs. The Institute for Science and International Security assesses the site remains under construction and not yet operational, though Western analysts speculate it may house undeclared enrichment capabilities.<\/p>\n
The site gained significance because it was largely untouched during the June 2025 strikes that devastated other nuclear facilities. While the European Council on Foreign Relations estimates that many of the roughly 18,000 centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow were destroyed, the Wall Street Journal reported in July that Israel shared intelligence suggesting thousands of centrifuges may have been moved into Pickaxe Mountain late last year. The US has not confirmed these reports.<\/p>\n
Prior to the latest threats, Trump had declared the nuclear sites \u201ccompletely and totally obliterated.\u201d However, a leaked preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency assessment suggested the strikes only set Iran\u2019s program back by less than six months. Currently, Iran holds an estimated 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi previously noted this amount could produce more than 10 nuclear warheads if enriched to 90 percent, though inspectors have been barred from the sites since Iran suspended cooperation after the 2025 attacks.<\/p>\n
As of Friday, no inspectors have entered the bombed facilities, leaving the exact status of Iran\u2019s nuclear program unclear. Trump reiterated his claim that the US had prevented Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, while Tehran dismissed the focus on Pickaxe Mountain as a pretext for aggression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Trump has again threatened to strike Iran\u2019s fortified Pickaxe Mountain, raising tensions as nuclear talks remain stalled and military exchanges continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15,33,1930,1928,664,1929,10],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-middleeast","tag-nuclearprogram","tag-trump","tag-usforeignpolicy","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}