Trump to bomb Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site ‘soon’, appears to blame Jordan for US deaths

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Washington: President Donald Trump appeared to blame US partner Jordan for the deaths of at least two American troops when an Iranian missile hit a Jordanian air base last week, while saying an attack on Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site was imminent.

The US military has now released the identities of three service members killed in the renewed fighting, including 19-year-old Isabella Gonzales and Tyler Feehan, 25, who were killed at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

First Lieutenant Tyler Feehan and Private Isabella Gonzales were killed by an Iranian attack in Jordan.US Army Space and Missile Defence Command via AP

Sergeant Michael Swinton was killed in Iraq.U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command via AP

A third soldier is missing, with unidentified remains found, while another – now identified as 30-year-old Michael Swinton – died during the disposal of an Iranian drone in Iraq.

Trump on Tuesday (Washington time) appeared to blame the Jordanian military for failing to stop the missile reaching its target.

“[The Iranians] did slip something through in Jordan, and if we had other operators, it would not have happened, unfortunately,” he said.

“We have the best equipment in the world, we’ve stopped almost everything. But when you let other people do your job – with the United States, we let other people do the job – and sometimes it doesn’t work out so well.”

Trump also gave his strongest signal to date that he intends to authorise a strike on Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a key nuclear site buried deep underground near the Natanz facility that was bombed by the US last year.

“We’ll be hitting that area probably pretty soon and there’s not a thing they can do about it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “Normally, I wouldn’t say that. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that. But we’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Pickaxe Mountain since the conflict in Iran roared back to life two weeks ago after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps resumed firing at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

So far, US forces have mostly targeted coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone launch sites, command centres and air defence systems along the Iranian coastline, and in some other areas.

Mystery surrounds the exact purpose of Pickaxe Mountain. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Israeli intelligence believes Iran relocated thousands of centrifuges – used to enrich uranium – into tunnels deep inside the mountain, and had relayed this to the US.

Trump was unfazed when asked about the report, saying he was focused on tracking any Iranian stockpiles of enriched uranium. “That’s where the action is.”

Meanwhile, the risk of the conflict further infringing upon global shipping escalated, with at least two tankers turning around in the Red Sea after Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen threatened to attack ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea is another crucial global shipping passage.Graphic: Nathan Perri

Ship tracking data from LSEG showed a crude carrier, the Xin Long Yang, made a U-turn and headed back towards the Suez Canal, rather than trying to cross the strait bound for China, Reuters reported. It was carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi Arabian crude oil.

Aframax tanker Rodos, which loaded about 700,000 barrels of Saudi crude for India, also made a U-turn for Suez on Tuesday, according to the data.

Gregory Brew, an Iran and oil analyst at the Eurasia Group consultancy, said the data showed at least five tankers carrying Saudi oil or bound for Saudi ports had stopped or turned around near the strait. “Non-Saudi traffic continues apace,” he said.

The Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen largely sat out the conflict over the past five months, but on Monday declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia and warned shipping companies that vessels using Saudi ports could be targeted.

Trump was nonplussed about the potential escalation. “If something like that happens, we’ll take care of it. We’ve done that with the Houthis before,” he said.

With Reuters

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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.