TENSIONS between Washington and Tehran have escalated in recent days, with Pickaxe Mountain — a fortified site near Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility — emerging as the confrontation’s new flashpoint. Threats from Washington to strike the fortified underground complex have widened the rift between the two sides, stoking fears of renewed instability across the Middle East.
As the United States and Iran continued their exchanges of strikes for several days, US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that Washington was prepared to strike Pickaxe Mountain “very soon” and “very heavily”.
The threats followed reports, citing Israeli intelligence assessments, that Iran may have moved advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges into the underground complex.
However, when asked whether Iran had relocated centrifuges to the site, Trump said the United States did not have that information “on record”.
Tehran has rejected allegations that the site represents an undeclared nuclear facility, saying the complex was declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2020 as the future site of an advanced centrifuge assembly plant.
In response to US threats, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned on Wednesday that any US attack on nuclear or other sensitive sites would be treated as an expansion of the conflict and would trigger strikes against US, allied and partner interests across the region. — Xinhua
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