Trump Threatens Strike on Iran's Underground Nuclear Site

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States could "hit" Iran's heavily fortified underground nuclear site, known as Pickaxe Mountain, "very soon," warning that Washington was closely monitoring activity at the facility. Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump said the site could be targeted if the US detects any activity there.

"We may hit Pickaxe very soon because if there was anything going on with Pickaxe," Trump said, adding that US intelligence was closely monitoring the site. "We know everybody that's moving at Pickaxe; we know everybody that's moving everywhere all over Iran. And if anything goes bad, we hit them; we hit them hard," he said.

The remarks come days after US Central Command said American forces had completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets.

The Site: Pickaxe Mountain

Pickaxe Mountain is located near Iran's heavily damaged Natanz uranium-enrichment facility and is described as a heavily fortified underground complex containing two deeply buried tunnel systems. The site's underground construction is believed to make it significantly more resistant to conventional aerial strikes.

According to Business Today, the facility is dug more than 300 feet under solid granite, making it deeper than Iran's Fordow enrichment site. Iranian officials designed the site specifically to withstand sabotage and heavy bombardments, and it has not been struck by US or allied forces during previous military actions.

Intelligence assessments from allied regional partners suggest Iran may have recently shifted sensitive centrifuge equipment or stockpiles into the fortified mountain tunnels, Business Today reported. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Israeli intelligence believes Iran has relocated thousands of centrifuges to the deeply buried facility.

Experts note that even if deep underground halls resist a direct blast, air strikes can collapse access portals, destroy surface ventilation, or cut electrical infrastructure, effectively disabling the complex, according to Business Today.

Trump Defends Military Campaign

Trump defended the months-long US military campaign against Iran, saying its primary objective was to prevent Tehran from acquiring 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.

"Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did, you probably wouldn't be standing here very long," he added.

Trump argued that US military intervention had prevented a wider regional conflict. "If we didn't go in there, you wouldn't have Israel right now, you wouldn't have the Middle East, and they probably would go at European cities and our cities next," he said, adding, "But we stopped them from having a nuclear weapon in five months."

Trump also claimed American forces had destroyed sophisticated radar installations on two occasions. "They had very sophisticated radar – they brought in radar because we knocked it out once, and now we knocked it out twice," he said. "I think they're tired of putting it in and getting blown up," he added.

Iran's Response

Iran strongly condemned the latest American strikes, accusing Washington of violating Iranian sovereignty and targeting non-military infrastructure and civilian sites across several provinces. Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Iranian armed forces had responded with what it described as "crushing defensive strikes" against US military bases in West Asia that Tehran said served as the origin, support, and staging points for American attacks.

Iranian defense officials have warned that any direct attack on the Pickaxe complex would trigger heavy retaliatory measures, according to Business Today.