US President Donald Trump has again hinted at the possibility of military strikes on Iran, stating that he will "at some point have to reach for the hammer". He made the remarks at a campaign rally in Dubuque, Iowa, two days before the US mid-term elections, while the war against Iran, launched on 28 February by joint US and Israeli strikes, continues without any sign of a deal to end it.
Trump said he has not ordered new strikes so far to avoid civilian casualties and reiterated that the US military has destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities. He told reporters that a large part of Iran's military capacity has been destroyed, but that he still needs to "resolve" one or two targets. In doing so, he mentioned Pickaxe Mountain, an underground complex which, without confirmed evidence, is claimed to contain highly enriched uranium that could be used to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran has warned it will retaliate in the event of a new attack.
Commentator Tucker Carlson claimed that Trump, in cooperation with Israel, could decide to launch a nuclear attack on Iran within just a few days, though he offered no evidence for this assertion. His post on the X platform, in which Pickaxe Mountain was the central topic, has been viewed more than 85 million times. Carlson claims that the complex could become a target of a US nuclear strike, allegedly under pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to him, conventional US weapons cannot destroy the underground tunnels of the complex, so the "only military option would be a nuclear strike". He also wrote that Netanyahu strongly advocates such an attack, claiming that "Bibi calls Trump about it every day". Carlson believes the war with Iran is politically important for Netanyahu, who could lose his premiership without it.
Carlson also warned of the consequences of a potential nuclear strike: radioactive contamination of the Persian Gulf, the death of tens of millions of people, and the possibility that other nuclear powers, such as Russia, might begin to justify similar attacks. He concluded that "World War III would be inevitable". Carlson sparked condemnation last month for also questioning the justification of Britain's entry into the war against Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
The White House rejected Carlson's claims, stating that he "has no insight into military planning or the thinking of the supreme commander". They added that Trump "has a wide range of options when it comes to Iran and will do what is necessary to protect the American people", and they sharply attacked Carlson, asserting that he has no knowledge of the administration's military plans.
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), stated on 17 October that it is "deeply concerning to see reports again that US officials are considering the use of nuclear weapons inside Iran". He added that if the administration is indeed discussing the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, members of Congress must immediately demand answers, and all those involved in policy-making must unequivocally reject such a possibility. Carlson's concern was also supported by former Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has politically split with Trump, who said: "This must be stopped".
