United States President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to take out Pickaxe Mountain in Iran, amid renewed hostility between Washington and the Islamic Republic.
“We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready,” Trump said in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
“We’re watching (Pickaxe Mountain) closely. We see no activity there. They’re not doing well with their nuclear situation. Every time we hear about it, we blow it up. So they don’t like talking about it. But we’ll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon,” Trump said.
Pickaxe Mountain (known in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang) is a highly fortified, secretive underground nuclear facility carved into the Zagros mountain range in Iran’s Isfahan province, located just 2 kilometres from the Natanz uranium enrichment complex.
The site was not targeted during US airstrikes that hit other Iranian facilities in June 2025. However, Trump has recently singled out Pickaxe Mountain as a primary US military target, threatening a major strike on the facility as tensions and naval skirmishes escalate.
Trump earlier on Monday said the United States was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and would ensure the Strait of Hormuz stays open — for a fee — after the two sides exchanged more missile and drone attacks.
“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,” he said on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
