United States President Donald Trump has warned that Washington may strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain "very soon," renewing a threat he has made repeatedly against the heavily fortified underground site located near the bombed-out Natanz nuclear enrichment complex.
Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. He said the US knows "everybody that's moving at Pickaxe" and across Iran.
The threat echoes a similar statement Trump made in mid-July, when he said on a radio programme: "We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready … We'll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon."
Hours after Friday's remarks, an Iranian oil tanker off Kharg Island was struck by four US missiles, according to Iranian reports. Kharg Island is Iran's main oil export hub, handling approximately 90 percent of the country's oil shipments.
The latest threat comes more than six months into the war that the US and Israel launched against Iran on February 28. The conflict has been accompanied by mixed messaging from the Trump administration.
On Friday, Trump sought to downplay the war, calling it "small potatoes." A day earlier, Vice President JD Vance appeared to suggest the conflict had cooled and dismissed an alleged US strike on a wedding in southern Iran with the words "sometimes things happen." At a White House briefing this week, Vance said he "wouldn't call it a war" and claimed there was "no active shooting right now."
Despite those statements, the US and Iran have exchanged attacks this week, including a strike close to Iran's oil infrastructure on Kharg Island.
Talks related to Iran's nuclear programme have remained in limbo since a 60-day negotiating window expired in mid-August without a deal.
Iran says it is not undertaking any work at the Natanz nuclear site. Its Khatam al-Anbiya central military headquarters has warned that bombing the nearby mountain would amount to a renewal of war across the region — at a time when the Trump administration is said to prefer keeping the conflict contained ahead of pivotal midterm elections.
Known in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, Pickaxe Mountain sits roughly 220 kilometres south of Tehran, in Isfahan province, and approximately two kilometres from the Natanz enrichment plant.
US intelligence reports indicate the facility has been excavated deep inside the mountain, beneath hundreds of metres of solid granite rock, to protect it from bunker-penetrating bombs. The main chambers are thought to lie at least 100 metres underground.
Some Western analysts have speculated that the mountain was intended to house an undeclared enrichment plant, serving as a hedge against attacks on Iran's known nuclear facilities. The Institute for Science and International Security, which tracks the site by satellite, has assessed that it is still under construction and not yet operational.
Iran has consistently maintained that it is developing a civilian nuclear power programme and does not have plans to build a nuclear weapon.
Pickaxe Mountain was left untouched during US strikes on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in June 2025, at the end of a 12-day Israeli military campaign against Iran, and has largely escaped the current conflict. The Institute for Science and International Security has recorded only the destruction of a vehicle on a nearby spoil pile.
With Iran's centrifuge manufacturing base and enrichment halls at other sites damaged during the war, analysts regard the tunnels as the most likely location for Tehran to attempt to rebuild — whether for component production, assembly, or uranium enrichment.
According to reports, Israel passed Washington intelligence in July suggesting that thousands of centrifuges had been moved inside the facility late last year. The US has not confirmed that claim.
