US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington could strike Iran's underground nuclear site, known as Pickax Mountain, very soon. The remark came just days after American forces had already targeted Iranian military installations. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump strongly defended the months-long US military campaign against Iran.
Trump Defends Five Months of Military Action
Trump said the entire campaign had one clear goal, to stop Tehran from ever getting its hands on a nuclear weapon. According to him, the United States stayed focused on that single objective for five months, and the result is that Iran still does not have a nuclear weapon. He went further, arguing that if Iran actually possessed a nuclear weapon, the current situation, including reporters standing in the Oval Office asking him questions, would likely look very different. He added that American surveillance is not limited to Pickax Mountain alone but stretches across the whole of Iran, underlining how closely Washington is tracking any sign of nuclear activity.
"We Could Hit Pickax Very Soon"
Trump then issued a direct warning, saying that if the United States detects any suspicious activity at Pickax Mountain, it would not hesitate to strike the site. "We could hit Pickax very soon," he said. He added that American intelligence agencies are closely monitoring every movement at the location. According to Trump, the US already knows who is coming and going at Pickax, as well as who is moving where across the whole of Iran. He made clear that if anything harmful is detected, a response would follow immediately.
Trump's Case on Israel and the Middle East
Trump also argued that American military intervention had prevented a far bigger conflict from breaking out in the region. He said that had the United States not acted in time, Israel and the entire Middle East would be facing a much more serious threat today. Trump suggested Iran could otherwise have gone on to target European cities as well as American cities, but the US campaign of the past five months stopped Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Through this argument, Trump was framing Washington's military involvement not as aggression but as an effort to preserve regional stability.
What Exactly Is Pickax Mountain
Pickax Mountain sits close to Iran's Natanz uranium-enrichment facility, which has already been badly damaged. It is described as a heavily fortified underground complex with two separate tunnel systems built deep beneath the surface. It had previously emerged that Israeli intelligence agencies suspect Iran moved thousands of centrifuges into this deep underground facility, although that assessment has not been independently confirmed. Natanz has long been regarded as one of the most important sites in Iran's nuclear programme, which is why both the US and Israel have kept a close watch on any underground activity around it. Because the complex is built so far underground, it is believed to be able to withstand conventional aerial bombing to a significant degree. That is precisely why, if the United States does decide to strike it, the move would mark one of the most escalatory steps yet in the ongoing campaign against Iran's nuclear infrastructure. The warning forms part of a broader American campaign against Iran's nuclear programme that has continued for five months, during which US forces have repeatedly struck Iranian military and nuclear-linked sites.
