Iran
Trump downplays duration of renewed Iran strikes
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the renewed U.S. campaign against Iran would not continue for "too long" after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that the U.S. would take out Pickaxe Mountain in Iran, as he warned that Washington would continue to hit the country hard.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Freedom 250 Grand Prix Showcase at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 13, 2026. Reuters/Kylie Cooper
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that the U.S. would take out Pickaxe Mountain in Iran, as he warned that Washington would continue to hit the country hard.
"We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready," Trump said in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
"We're watching (Pickaxe Mountain) closely. We see no activity there. They're not doing well with their nuclear situation. Every time we hear about it, we blow it up. So they don't like talking about it. But we'll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon," Trump said.
Pickaxe Mountain, located near Iran's heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility, is a heavily fortified site that hosts two deeply buried tunnel complexes that experts assess as beyond the reach of the most powerful bunker buster bombs in the U.S. arsenal.
Trump earlier on Monday said the United States was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and would ensure the Strait of Hormuz stays open — for a fee — after the two sides exchanged more missile and drone attacks.
"We're going to hit them very hard tonight and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow. And there's not a damn thing they can do about it," he said on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
Reporting by Ismail Shakil, Daphne Psaledakis, Christian Martinez and Jonathan Landay
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the renewed U.S. campaign against Iran would not continue for "too long" after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July.
Top aides to President Donald Trump are pushing to keep the Iran war from escalating before November's midterm elections to staunch Republican electoral losses, four people familiar with the discussions said, a strategy already under strain as the U.S. and Iran exchanged back-and-forth attacks overnight.
Russia has secretly helped Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles, in what the Financial Times describes as one of the most significant known transfers of strategic military technology from Moscow to Tehran, according to an investigation published Wednesday.
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