President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran on Monday, warning that the U.S. could soon strike the heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility, even as American forces launched another round of attacks against the country.
In an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” Trump described the site as “a possible target for a nice big fat shot right near the front door,” adding that the U.S. is “going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready.”
The president acknowledged that U.S. intelligence currently detects “no activity” at the facility, which sits near Iran’s damaged Natanz uranium enrichment complex in the Zagros Mountains. Still, he said Washington would “probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon.”
Pickaxe Mountain was not among the three nuclear sites the U.S. military targeted in June 2025, but Trump told Hewitt that the U.S. has “a lot of eyes” on it. The facility is believed to house two deeply buried tunnel complexes, potentially containing uranium enrichment equipment and stockpiles.
Experts have cast doubt on the feasibility of a strike. The site is buried up to 2,000 feet below granite, a depth that likely exceeds the penetration capability of America’s most powerful bunker buster bombs. Military analysts have long warned that such hardened targets may require specialized munitions or multiple precision strikes to be effectively neutralized.
Trump’s threat came hours after he announced the reinstatement of a U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from some lawmakers and allies who question the administration’s broader strategy. The president has doubled down on the blockade, dismissing concerns about escalation.
“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow. And there’s not a damn thing they can do about it,” Trump told Hewitt.
U.S. Central Command confirmed that strikes began at 4:45 p.m. Monday, marking the third consecutive day of American attacks against Iranian forces. In a statement, Central Command said the operations “will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The latest strikes follow four separate rounds of U.S. attacks last week, which officials described as retaliation for Iran’s targeting of commercial vessels in the vital shipping lane. The Trump administration has framed the campaign as a necessary response to Iranian aggression, but critics argue it risks drawing the U.S. deeper into a conflict with no clear exit strategy.
Trump is expected to address the nation Thursday amid heightened tensions over the Hormuz blockade and the escalating military campaign. His threat to strike Pickaxe Mountain adds a new, potentially more dangerous dimension to the confrontation, as it targets a facility that could be central to Iran’s nuclear program.
