The Trump administration “may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran," under pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tucker Carlson claimed in an X/Twitter post on Sunday.
The conservative commentator alleged that the target of the attack would be Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified nuclear site located near Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
Its two deeply buried tunnel complexes are a main target for the US and Israel, who question if 13,000 kg bunker-buster bombs can reach them.
“No conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place,” Carlson said in his post. “The only military option is a nuclear strike. Netanyahu has been pushing hard for one. ‘Bibi calls Trump about it every day,’ says an informed observer.”
Trump looking at Pickaxe as possible target
In an interview on Newsmax earlier this month, Trump claimed that the US was looking at Pickaxe Mountain as a possible target for a future strike, adding that the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB), the weapon the US would allegedly use for the attack, is non-nuclear.
"It's like a tiny nuclear bomb,” he said. “The mother of all bombs is one big bomb, but it's not nuclear.”
A Monday Fox News interview again revealed that Trump has maintained the possibility of a strike on the site. The US could carry out the attack "in one hour, as soon as we want, and anytime we want," he told the news outlet, which lauded him for his accomplishments in office a day ahead of midterm elections.
In his post, Carlson also said, “Netanyahu is cornered and desperate,” claiming that he can’t form a government without US President Donald Trump’s direct intervention. “Netanyahu must stay close to Trump. He needs this war,” he said.
Netanyahu had pressured Trump earlier this week to resume strikes on Iran immediately following the US midterm elections in what the US president called a “very good conversation.”
Netanyahu applying 'maximum pressure' on US, Carlson claims
Carlson said that the Israeli prime minister is applying “maximum pressure” to his closest allies in the administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and CIA director John Ratcliffe, the latter two of whom are “following Netanyahu’s lead.”
“At this pace, a global depression is imminent,” Carlson continued. “A nuclear strike would radically accelerate the destruction.”
He concluded the post by urging the “hundreds of millions of people who will be killed along with their children” in the event of a nuclear strike to “speak up.”
Carlson’s claims came as the US launched “defensive” strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island.
A US official claimed they were limited and not a resumption of major combat operations, according to a Monday Wall Street Journal report.
The attack came after Trump responded “no” when asked by a reporter earlier on Monday if he was considering resuming strikes on Iran following Tuesday’s election, raising doubts about Washington’s current stance on the 8-month-long war.