US could strike Iranian nuclear site Pickaxe Mountain very soon: Trump

US President Donald Trump has said that the United States could strike Iran’s heavily fortified underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain “very soon” if intelligence indicates activity there.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Friday (September 4), Trump defended the months-long US military campaign against Iran, saying its main objective was to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“We’re in five months now. And you know what we did in five months? They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

He added that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon” because a nuclear-armed Tehran would pose a serious threat to the United States.

Trump then specifically warned that Pickaxe Mountain could be targeted if the US detects activity at the site.

“We may hit Pickaxe very soon,” he said, adding that US intelligence was closely monitoring movements around the facility.

“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,” Trump said.

Pickaxe Mountain is located near Iran’s heavily damaged Natanz uranium-enrichment facility. The site is believed to be a deeply buried underground complex comprising two heavily fortified tunnel systems, making it one of Iran’s most difficult nuclear-related sites to target.