WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Saturday that while the United States has significantly degraded Iran’s military, Washington still needs to address one or two remaining targets, including a suspected nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain.
Trump characterized negotiations with Iran to end the war begun by the United States and Israel in late February as “going fine,” though he described Tehran as “not very reliable.” He said the United States is not rushing into offensive action because it has already decimated Iran’s military and nuclear program.
“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,” Trump told reporters at his Florida residence. “You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he added, referring to the suspected underground nuclear complex.
The Iranian government has denied that any nuclear work is carried out at the site.
Earlier Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran and that the United States would be open to a diplomatic solution. Iran’s supreme leader warned the United States and Israel against launching new attacks, following threats to resume strikes after elections.
Trump has warned of the potential for fresh military action after the U.S. midterms, saying previously that he was weighing whether to “finish them off.”