Trump Says US May “Hit” Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain “Very Soon”

September 5, 2026

Washington: US President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could target Iran’s heavily fortified underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain “very soon” if Washington detects activity there.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Friday, Trump defended the US military campaign against Iran, saying its main objective was to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“We’re in five months now. And you know what we did in five months? They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon; that’s what we did,” Trump said.

He added that Iran would not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon and warned that Pickaxe Mountain could be targeted if there was activity at the site.

Trump warns of possible strike on Pickaxe Mountain

Trump said US intelligence was closely monitoring the underground facility and claimed Washington knew about movements at the site and elsewhere in Iran.

“We may hit Pickaxe very soon because if there was anything going on with Pickaxe,” Trump said.

He further warned that the US would respond forcefully if it detected developments that it considered a threat.

Pickaxe Mountain is located near Iran’s heavily damaged Natanz uranium-enrichment facility. The site is described as a heavily fortified underground complex with two deeply buried tunnel systems.

A previous report said Israeli intelligence believes Iran has moved thousands of centrifuges to the deeply buried facility. Its underground construction is believed to make the site considerably more resistant to conventional aerial attacks.

US strikes Iranian military targets

Trump’s remarks came days after the US Central Command said American forces had carried out strikes against Iranian military targets.

The operations targeted facilities associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including air-defence installations, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites.

The US military said the strikes followed what it described as attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and US service members.

Trump also referred to recent US strikes on Iranian radar systems, claiming American forces had destroyed sophisticated radar installations on two occasions.

“There had been no shooting for days before the hit that we gave them the other night to wipe out the radar they had,” Trump said.

He claimed Iran had stopped deploying radar systems after repeated attacks on them.

Iran condemns US military action

Trump also argued that US intervention had prevented a wider regional conflict, claiming that without American action, Israel and other parts of the Middle East would have faced a greater threat.

Iran has strongly condemned the latest US strikes, accusing Washington of violating its sovereignty and targeting non-military infrastructure and civilian sites in several provinces.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its armed forces had responded with what it described as “crushing defensive strikes” against US military bases in West Asia that Tehran said were being used to support American attacks.

The latest statements from Washington and Tehran come amid heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and the continuing military confrontation in the region.