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Pickaxe Mountain Threat
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will soon target the area near Pickaxe Mountain, telling reporters, "We'll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily," as the site is described as a deeply buried nuclear complex near Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
“What is Pickaxe Mountain”
The ABC News account said Trump made the comment after being asked whether he believes Iran has moved nuclear centrifuges to the site, and Trump said it "doesn't mean anything" unless Iran has uranium to enrich.
The Times of Israel reported Trump also claimed the U.S. will be striking Pickaxe Mountain "probably pretty soon," while saying such a development "doesn't mean anything" because Iran does not have access to its stockpiles of enriched uranium needed to create a bomb.
In the same ABC News report, Trump said, "We follow the material," referring to uranium itself, and the article described Pickaxe Mountain as under construction and buried deep below the ground.
The Jerusalem Post said Pickaxe Mountain is located 220 km (140 miles) south of Tehran and 2 km (1.2 miles) from the Natanz nuclear complex, and it quoted Trump saying, "We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready," in a July 13 interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
Houthi Blockade and Strikes
Trump also linked the Pickaxe Mountain threat to broader regional escalation, saying American forces could soon target the Iranian site while he warned that U.S. forces would "take care of" the Houthi rebels if they followed through on a threatened blockade of Saudi ports.
The ABC News & Headlines account said Trump projected it would take the Islamic republic more than 20 years to rebuild from damage sustained in the Middle East war, and it quoted him saying, "We're not finished at all ... we're not leaving right now."
Chosunbiz reported Trump told reporters during talks at the White House with Lebanon President Joseph Aoun that, "If that happens, we will take care of it," referring to the possibility of a Houthi blockade.
The ABC News & Headlines account described the site as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, also known as Pickaxe Mountain, and said Trump spoke about it to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, local time.
The AFR account said oil prices surged to their highest level in almost two months after threats from Yemen’s Houthi rebels forced tankers to run around in the Red Sea, and it tied the market pressure to Trump vowing to hit back hard against Iranian allies if they entered the war.
Nuclear Stakes and Uncertainty
The ABC News report said the facility has been declared in 2021 by Iran as a centrifuge assembly site after a similar plant in neighboring Natanz was destroyed, and it said analysts at the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) reviewed satellite imagery and said construction is still underway.
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ABC News quoted Arms Control Association director for nonproliferation policy Kelsey Davenport saying, "the location of the site does pose concern," and it added that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been barred from entering Iran since the U.S. attacked earlier this year.
The Times of Israel described Pickaxe Mountain as fortified and buried deep underground, and it said Trump claimed the U.S. is monitoring those sites to make sure stockpiles are not retrieved.
The Jerusalem Post said ISIS assessed that the facility is not yet operational but construction continues, and it quoted ISIS saying its assessment is that the facility is "not yet operational, but construction continues," based on satellite imagery alone.
The Los Angeles Times said the Institute for Science and International Security warned it wasn’t clear "if Iran still plans on installing a large-scale assembly facility" at Pickaxe Mountain, but it said ISIS added that if Iran starts to rebuild centrifuge manufacturing capability, it could install a smaller centrifuge assembly facility there.
