Trump Threatens Strike on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain as 4 Missiles Hit Tanker Near Kharg
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Sep 5
Trump Threatens Strike on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain as 4 Missiles Hit Tanker Near Kharg
2 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Sep 5
Summary
Trump said in the Oval Office on Friday that the US could hit Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain “very soon,” reviving a mid-July threat against the fortified site beside Natanz.
220km south of Tehran and buried under hundreds of metres of granite, the mountain is seen by Western analysts as a possible fallback site for centrifuge work because it remains largely intact.
Four US missiles later struck an Iranian oil tanker off Kharg Island, according to Iranian outlet Khabar Fouri; the island handles about 90% of Iran’s oil exports.
US messaging has been contradictory: Trump called the conflict “small potatoes” while Vice President JD Vance said there was “no active shooting right now,” even as attacks resumed this week.
Iran warns bombing the mountain would widen the war, while stalled nuclear talks and lost IAEA visibility over Iran’s 440kg stockpile enriched to 60% leave the programme’s status highly uncertain.