President Donald Trump warned Friday that the United States may strike Iran’s heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site “very soon,” declaring that Washington is closely tracking activity at the underground complex and will prevent Tehran from using it to rebuild its nuclear program.
“We may hit Pickaxe very soon,” Trump told reporters at the White House, warning that the United States is prepared to act if it detects renewed nuclear activity there.
Trump said American surveillance extends not only over Pickaxe Mountain but across Iran, giving Washington the ability to detect movements around the site and respond rapidly.
“We have cameras on every major area of the first three. And we also have cameras on Pickaxe Mountain,” Trump said Thursday, referring to the three primary Iranian nuclear facilities struck by the United States last year.
“We know everybody that walks in and walks out,” he said, expressing confidence that Washington knows what is taking place inside the mountain.
Pickaxe Mountain, located near the devastated Natanz nuclear complex, has emerged as a central concern over Iran’s ability to eventually reconstitute its nuclear program. The heavily fortified facility contains two tunnel complexes constructed deep beneath Kolang Gaz La mountain, with experts assessing that portions of the complex may be even more deeply buried than Fordow, which was once considered Iran’s most difficult nuclear facility to strike.
Israeli intelligence reportedly believes Iran transferred thousands of advanced centrifuges into Pickaxe Mountain last fall, potentially giving Tehran equipment that could be used to restore enrichment capabilities destroyed in previous U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Trump has consequently spent months warning that Pickaxe will be destroyed if Iran attempts to turn the site into the foundation of a rebuilt nuclear program.
Asked in July about the reported centrifuge transfer, Trump said the United States was closely tracking Iran’s remaining nuclear material and made clear that rebuilding elsewhere would only bring another American attack.
“We’ll be hitting that area probably pretty soon,” he warned. “There’s not a thing they can do about it.”
Trump broadened that threat beyond Pickaxe, declaring that the United States would strike “any site where they’re even thinking about nuclear” and do so “very, very powerfully.”
Days earlier, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors would have to gain access to Pickaxe as part of any future agreement with Tehran. While saying U.S. surveillance had detected no activity there at the time, Trump nevertheless described the mountain as a possible target for “a nice, big, fat shot right into the front door.”
Source:
Liên Minh Bảo Hiến Mỹ Gốc Việt
Vietnamese American Conservative Alliance (VACA)
https://freedom-vaca.org/vaca-blog-tieng-viet-nam/
https://freedom-vaca.org/vaca-main-blog-english-articles/