Iran has warned that any US strike on its nuclear facilities or other sensitive sites would be viewed as an “expansion of the war in the region", after US President Donald Trump threatened to target the underground Pickaxe Mountain complex.
Iran said such an attack would be viewed as an escalation of the war and warned that US interests, along with those of Washington’s allies and supporters, could become targets. “...all US interests, as well as those of its allies and supporters, will become targets of powerful attacks," Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.
Earlier this week, Trump said that the US was not finished with Iran and warned that the next target could be Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried nuclear site near Natanz.
Pickaxe Mountain is a fortified underground facility located about a mile south of Natanz. The site was declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2020 as a future facility for assembling centrifuges used in nuclear fuel production.
Meanwhile, the US military said it carried out its 11th straight night of strikes on Iran on July 22, as fighting across the Middle East continued to overshadow efforts to revive an interim ceasefire that has collapsed. The latest escalation has unfolded alongside attacks on shipping routes and rising energy prices, with the conflict increasingly centred on control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global oil and gas supplies.
'No interest' in joining US-Iran war: IsraelIsraeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said Israel has “no interest" in joining the renewed US military campaign against Iran, arguing that the current conflict and continued economic pressure on Tehran already serve Israel’s interests. “Right now, Israel has no interest in joining the conflict. The current situation, where there’s a war between Iran and the US, is actually the best scenario for us," Smotrich said. |
