Tensions rise as US threatens to strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that the US military may soon strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain – a fortified site near Iran's Natanz enrichment facility – while trying to downplay the conflict with Iran as "small potatoes."

"We may hit Pickaxe very soon," Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to the underground facility where Washington says Iran has moved some of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Meanwhile, Trump tried to downplay the conflict with Iran, arguing that it was not a war. "It's a military conflict, but it's very intermittent," Trump said, though he has repeatedly described the conflict as a "war" while avoiding the term at times.

"I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing," Trump claimed.

"I would say that it's intermittent. You know, we do intermittent strikes," Trump said. "There's a lot of truth that we're not fighting right now. There's no fighting."

But US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed back against Trump's characterization, saying there was "nothing small" about the human and economic costs of the conflict.

"Tell that to the families of the 18 troops we have lost, the hundreds of wounded service members, and the Americans suffering every single day from record high prices,” Schumer said in a post on X.

Iran has yet to respond directly to Trump's latest threat. Earlier, however, Iran's air defense commander, Brigadier General Alireza Elhami, said Iran was "ready for any kind of confrontation" – now or in the future – because "the threat is not over."

Trump made similar threats in July. At the time, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said there were no nuclear activities at Pickaxe Mountain, arguing that Washington's persistent focus on the site was merely a pretext fabricated to justify its aggression, destruction and deliberate acts of sabotage.

Against this backdrop, whether Trump's threat to strike Pickaxe can be carried out remains uncertain, as concerns over US munitions shortages continue to mount.

Though Trump dismissed the US media which reported US munition shortage as "treasonous scum," available data paints a different picture.

A study by the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the US military had only 759 to 827 Patriot interceptor missiles remaining in its stockpile as of the end of July, down from 2,330 before the US-Israeli conflict with Iran broke out in late February. Over the same period, the stockpile of THAAD interceptors also fell sharply, from 452 to between 234 and 278, said the study.

Military commentator Wei Dongxu told CMG that the shortage of interceptor missiles in the US military's missile defense systems is an objective fact that the Pentagon and senior US officials have no way to conceal or gloss over.

Noting the US military in the Middle East is facing the prospect of a prolonged military standoff with Iran, Wei said the demand for missile defense interceptors is substantial and increasingly urgent.

The pressure on US forces is also evident in their continued military operations in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

CNN reported that US forces targeted nearly 60 Iranian sites around the strait this week, including air defense positions, radar systems, mine-laying capabilities and communications facilities.

The US military has also stepped up efforts to enforce what Washington calls a naval blockade of Iran. US Central Command said Thursday that American forces had redirected 87 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two others.

Iran, however, said the strait remains under its control and is closed to all but pre-approved vessels using designated channels. Tehran has warned that other ships attempting to transit the strait risk being targeted.

(With input from agencies)