US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington "may hit" Iran's underground Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site "very soon," even as he maintained that American strikes over the past five months have already stopped Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters at the White House.
"You know what we did in five months? They're not going to have a nuclear weapon. That's what we did. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, because if they did, you probably wouldn't be standing here very long," Trump said.
"We've stopped them from having one. We may hit Pickaxe very soon... we're leading in space now by a lot," he added.
He went on to add, "When I first took over, in my first term, we were a distant third to Russia and to China. We're leading in space. 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. But we've been in there for five months, and in five months, what did we do? We stopped them from having a nuclear weapon."
ALSO READ: Hormuz, Missiles, Cyberattacks: How Iran Is Gaining Leverage In US War: Report
Pickaxe Mountain, known in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, is a heavily fortified underground complex roughly 2 km from the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, which the US and Israel struck during Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025.
The site has remained untouched through the current war despite repeated threats from Trump since July, after Israeli intelligence assessed that Iran had shifted centrifuges into the mountain last year.
Analysts have said the tunnels, buried under more than 100 metres of rock, could eventually house a centrifuge assembly line or enrichment equipment.
Trump's latest remarks come amid continued exchanges between the US and Iran, with fighting having resumed in recent days after a period of relative calm, and renewed concern over shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.
ALSO READ: Oil Could Fall $40-$50 As Iran Conflict Ends, Supply Surges: Bessent
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.