US announces strike on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain site

President Donald Trump announced on Monday, July 13, 2026, that the United States intends to strike a heavily fortified underground Iranian military site known as Pickaxe Mountain, marking a significant escalation in ongoing hostilities. The declaration, made during a live radio interview, was accompanied by a reinstated U.S. naval blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and a vow to continue intensive military strikes.

Trump stated the U.S. would hit Iran very hard on the night of July 13 and again on July 14. He specifically identified Pickaxe Mountain, a subterranean tunnel complex near the historically contested Natanz uranium enrichment facility, as a future target. "We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready," Trump said, adding, "There's not a damn thing they can do about it." He suggested the site could be hit with "a nice, big, fat shot right in the front door" relatively soon.

The targeted facility is assessed by defense analysts as being exceptionally hardened, with tunnel complexes built deep inside a mountain range that are considered virtually impenetrable by the most powerful conventional bunker-buster munitions in the U.S. arsenal....