Iran-US war updates: Trump threatens to attack nuclear site as Hegseth reveals staggering cost of war – UK Times

Donald Trump has warned that the US military will hit Iran’s “Pickaxe Mountain” nuclear complex soon.

Trump said the US military would be “hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” referring to Pickaxe Mountain – known in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La – a fortified underground site near one of the country’s main nuclear enrichment facilities.

Pickaxe Mountain, about 220km south of Tehran and near the Natanz nuclear facility, is believed to house an underground complex buried nearly 100 metres inside the mountain.

Little is known about the site, which experts say is still under construction, and is likely too deep to be reached by even the US’s most advanced bunker buster missiles.

According to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), the facility was not targeted during the US-Israeli strikes in either the 2025 or 2026 conflicts.

Pete Hegseth’s latest estimate for the growing costs of the Iran war has now reached $37.5 billion.

That’s likely a low-end estimate, according to analysts.

Before the last week of attacks, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimated total costs to have reached between $34 billion and $42 billion. Other estimates place the true cost of the war at more than $100 billion.

Speaking in the Oval Office Tuesday alongside Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, Trump said Iran was once again being “decimated” and disclaimed any interest in new ceasefire negotiations after a wave of attacks on US bases and allies.

But he cautioned the US could escalate attacks on Iran in ways that would leave the country’s infrastructure so devastated it could take “decades” for Tehran to rebuild as the renewed conflict heads into a third full week.

“They want to desperately meet, and until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest”, the US president said.

“If we left today, it would take them decades to rebuild, and I don’t believe they’d ever rebuild. And honestly, they haven’t seen anything yet — we’ve been nice”.

Iran’s military claims it struck US military targets at Camp Doha in western Kuwait and Amazon’s central data infrastructure in Bahrain in Tuesday’s attacks.

In a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the Iranian military said its forces destroyed “a US long-range radar site, a communications center, satellite receiving systems, a missile defense radar, and a MQ-9 drone hangar”.

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran – with sacred unity – stand ready to decisively counter any new conspiracy and adventurism by the enemy,” the statement added, calling Camp Doha a major support hub for US personnel and equipment in the region.

“An MQ-9 drone hangar was also hit at the Ali al-Salem base, and a number of drones were destroyed or completely damaged,” it added.

It also said that it destroyed the central data infrastructure of the American company Amazon in Bahrain with several cruise missiles.

It said the attack was in response to the US’s alleged attack on the “civilian facilities of Darkhovey” – an under-construction nuclear power plant in Iran.

The US military says it has concluded its latest round of strikes on Iran, marking the 11th consecutive night of American attacks.

Centcom said the 75-minute operation targeted Iranian military operations centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities and logistics infrastructure to further degrade Tehran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington said Iran had attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the strategic waterway over the past three months.

Rep. Carlos Giménez, who sits on the House’s Armed Services Committee, made the remark while discussing the escalating conflict with CNN Monday.

“You know my condolences go out to the families of our servicemen and women that are killed – have been killed – in Iran. That’s the nature of warfare; we will have some casualties,” Giménez told “The Lead”.

US Central Command has shared a promo-style video of American troops enforcing its blockade of Iranian ports as eight ships have been redirected and one disabled as of Tuesday.

​US state secretary Marco Rubio said on Wednesday the ⁠United States is open-minded on the Middle East conflict and ⁠willing to ​engage, ⁠negotiate and settle differences with Iran, ⁠but Tehran was ​not ⁠serious about ‌talks.

“If they’re serious, we’re serious. If ‌they’re not, then ‌we will do what’s necessary to protect ⁠our interests, and also the interests of our allies,” Rubio said in remarks in a meeting with ‌Southeast Asian counterparts ​in Manila, ‌who have ⁠expressed serious concern about ⁠the renewed hostilities.