Washington, 05 September (H.S.): US President Donald Trump on Friday warned that the United States could strike Iran’s heavily fortified underground nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain “very soon” if American intelligence detects renewed activity at the site.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump defended the ongoing US military campaign against Iran, saying Washington’s primary objective was to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He claimed that US military action had prevented Iran from developing such a weapon within five months.

“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.

Trump further warned that Iran would not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, arguing that such a development could pose a serious threat to the United States and its allies.

Referring specifically to Pickaxe Mountain, Trump said the facility could be targeted if US intelligence detected activity there.

“We may hit Pickaxe very soon because if there was anything going on with Pickaxe,” Trump said, adding that US intelligence agencies were closely monitoring developments at 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.

Pickaxe Mountain is a deeply buried and heavily fortified underground complex located near Iran’s Natanz uranium-enrichment facility. The site has attracted particular attention because its underground construction is believed to make it significantly more difficult to damage through conventional aerial strikes.

Trump had previously warned that the United States could target the facility if Washington and Tehran failed to reach an agreement. US officials have also indicated that intelligence agencies are closely monitoring activity around Iran’s underground nuclear infrastructure.

Trump also claimed that US military intervention had prevented a potentially wider conflict in the Middle East. He argued that without American action, Israel and other countries in the region could have faced a more serious threat from Iran.

“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,” Trump said.

The remarks came amid continuing US military operations against Iranian targets. US Central Command has reported strikes against Iranian military infrastructure, including air-defence systems, radar installations and other military capabilities.

Trump also referred to recent US strikes on Iranian radar systems, claiming that American forces had destroyed sophisticated radar installations on two occasions after Iran attempted to restore them.

“There had been no shooting for days before the hit that we gave them the other night to wipe out the radar they had,” Trump said.

He claimed that Iran had subsequently deployed additional radar systems but suggested that repeated US attacks had discouraged Tehran from continuing to do so.

“I think they’re tired of putting it in and getting blown up,” Trump said.

Iran has strongly condemned US military action, accusing Washington of violating its sovereignty and attacking targets across the country. Tehran has maintained that its military responses were defensive in nature.

The conflict has also raised international concerns over the safety of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The International Atomic Energy Agency has previously documented attacks affecting Iranian nuclear sites, including the Natanz facility, and has monitored the potential radiological consequences of such incidents.

Any US strike on Pickaxe Mountain would mark a further escalation in the conflict because of the facility’s association with Iran’s nuclear programme and its heavily protected underground location.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar