President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States is likely to strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain “pretty soon” and “very heavily,” escalating his rhetoric as the US-Iran war entered its 10th day.
Speaking during a White House meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Trump described Pickaxe Mountain as a possible location for Iranian centrifuges and said Washington was closely tracking Iran’s nuclear-related activity.
Trump said reports that centrifuges may have been moved there were not confirmed and argued that centrifuges alone would not be decisive without access to nuclear material. “We follow the material,” he said, suggesting the administration’s focus is on preventing Iran from restoring any pathway toward weapons-grade enrichment. He also said Iran could be trying to reconstitute nuclear infrastructure and warned that any site connected to such efforts could face powerful US action.
The comments marked a more forceful posture than Trump’s earlier suggestions that a negotiated end to the conflict remained possible. On Tuesday, he said the United States had “no interest in meeting” with Iran for now, while insisting that Washington was “not finished at all” with its military campaign. Axios reported that Trump’s remarks indicate he is leaning away from a ceasefire and toward a broader effort, potentially alongside Israel, to compel Tehran to yield.
Pickaxe Mountain has become a central focus because it is believed to contain heavily protected underground tunnel complexes near Natanz, one of Iran’s main nuclear-enrichment areas. Its depth and fortification could make it a difficult target, though a strike could still seek to damage entrances and disrupt operations.
