US President Donald Trump has indicated that a second Iranian nuclear facility — a site referred to as Pickaxe Mountain — is under active American surveillance and could soon face military action, in remarks that signal a continued escalation of Washington's pressure campaign against Tehran. Trump made the comments during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on 14 July, even as his administration insisted it would not permit Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.

What Trump Said About Pickaxe Mountain

Asked whether any future diplomatic agreement with Iran would require international inspectors to verify activities at the site, Trump said the United States was already monitoring it independently through its own assets. 'They don't have it because we have eyes, you know, with the — with Space Force and everything else, we have a lot of eyes on it. But Pickaxe is possible, you know, a possible target for a nice, big, fat shot right in the front door,' he said.

He went further, suggesting a strike could come in the near term. 'No, it is on the list. We're watching it 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 added.

Trump on Iran's Reliability and Nuclear Intent

The President also accused Iran of walking away from a near-finalised agreement, describing the breakdown in stark terms. 'We had a deal where we won everything and they basically break the deals. You know, they make deals and, to them, deals are made to be broken. They are extremely unreliable people,' he said.

Trump characterised Iran's leadership as 'stone-cold, crazy people' and warned that Tehran would deploy a nuclear weapon immediately if it obtained one. 'If they ever had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it within one day,' he said. He declined to elaborate on possible action against individual Iranian officials, but suggested Washington held detailed intelligence on the matter.

Claims About Iran's Conventional Military Strength

Trump also claimed that Iran's conventional armed forces had been substantially degraded. 'They have no air force, they have no Navy, they have no nothing,' he said during the interview — a characterisation that goes significantly beyond assessments published by most independent defence analysts and has not been independently verified.

White House Remarks and Diplomatic Signals

Earlier on the same day, Trump reiterated the core US position during remarks at the White House. 'Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,' he said. Despite the military rhetoric, Trump did not fully close the door on diplomacy. 'Yeah, I think a deal is possible. Sure, I do,' he added, maintaining that ongoing military operations had not formally ended negotiations.

This comes amid a broader pattern in which the Trump administration has combined direct military strikes with intermittent diplomatic overtures toward Iran — a dual-track approach that has drawn both support and scepticism from US allies and regional partners. Whether the Pickaxe Mountain remarks translate into a formal military order remains to be seen, but the public signal itself is likely to raise tensions in an already volatile regional environment.