President Donald Trump declared that the United States has already crippled much of Iran’s military power, but said Washington may still need to “take care of” one or two remaining targets — including a suspected nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain.
Speaking to reporters at his Florida residence, Mr Trump said talks with Iran aimed at ending the war that the US and Israel began at the end of February were progressing, while casting doubt on Tehran’s trustworthiness.
“Going fine,” Mr Trump said of the negotiations, before adding: “but you know they’re not very reliable”.
He also repeated that the United States was not rushing into further offensive action, arguing that Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities had already been heavily degraded.
“We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,” Mr Trump said.
He singled out Pickaxe Mountain — described as a suspected underground nuclear complex — as a potential focus, suggesting the US could act swiftly.
“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he said.
Iran’s government has denied that any nuclear work is being conducted at the site.
Earlier yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Mr Trump had not decided on new strikes against Iran and stressed that Washington remains open to a diplomatic resolution.
Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader issued a warning on Saturday to the United States and Israel against launching further attacks, after threats to resume strikes following elections.
Mr Trump has also raised the prospect of renewed military action after US midterms, and has previously said he was weighing whether to “finish them off.”
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