Former President Donald Trump stated Tuesday that he would target Iran's deeply buried nuclear facility, known as "Pickaxe Mountain," if a deal to abandon the country's nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz is not achieved. Trump also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for publicly disclosing intelligence regarding Iran's nuclear activities.
Speaking to Fox News ahead of a meeting with Netanyahu, Trump said, "I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe. It’s not a big problem. We took out their nuclear site, and we’ll have to take out Pickaxe if we don’t make a deal." He expressed annoyance that Netanyahu had informed reporters about Iran's nuclear program development rather than conveying the information directly to him.
"I heard BB announce that. I said, 'Why didn't you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world,'" Trump remarked.
Pickaxe Mountain, referred to in Farsi as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, is described as a tunnel complex Iran has been excavating into a mountainside near its Natanz enrichment site. Reports indicate it is so deep that some weapons experts question whether even the most powerful American bunker-buster weapons could penetrate it.
Netanyahu was in Washington for the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent Republican advocate for Israel. The intelligence Netanyahu intended to share with Trump reportedly concerned the movement of centrifuges into the Pickaxe Mountain complex, an action Israel claims occurred shortly after the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding.
Iran has consistently denied the existence of a nuclear facility at the site, a stance it held when U.S. media outlets first reported on accelerated construction there in 2025. Trump himself had previously stated that the site was not targeted during the war due to insufficient proof of its use for nuclear work.
However, Trump also told reporters recently that Tehran might have moved centrifuges into the facility, adding that such a move would be inconsequential without the uranium necessary for a nuclear program. He also referenced the current hostilities, noting that the ongoing conflict began in early July after a mid-June ceasefire collapsed. U.S. strikes had paused on Friday following 13 consecutive nights of bombing.
During the conflict, Iran closed off the Persian Gulf waterway by firing on tankers and freighters, leading to a roughly 70 percent reduction in daily crossings and a surge in oil prices to nearly $100 per barrel. In response, Trump ordered U.S. forces to disable tankers bound for Kharg Island and threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure for every ship attacked. The Iranian regime retaliated with suicide drones and ballistic missiles targeting American bases in the Middle East, resulting in the deaths of at least four U.S. troops.