As Iran war drags on, Trump sets sights on ‘Pickaxe Mountain’

After US strikes on Iran’s largest nuclear facilities last year, both US President Donald Trump and the White House were adamant that the Middle East nation’s nuclear programme had been destroyed.“Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!” Trump wrote on social media.“Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated – and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News,” the White House wrote in a press release.A year later, the US and Iran are five months into a war Trump said would be over in weeks. Iran has gained leverage by seizing control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy corridor, and the US has been forced to the negotiating table as global fuel prices have spiked – including again this week after a ceasefire agreement collapsed.And Trump – facing mounting criticism that he has pushed the US into another “forever war” despite campaigning on doing exactly the opposite – is leaning back into the notion that Iran presents an unacceptable nuclear threat and strikes are needed, namely at another Iranian nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain, or Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La in Iran.“Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right near the front door,” the US president recently said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show”. “We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready.”