‘Do I finish it off or make a deal?’: Trump weighs next move on Iran, names Pickaxe Mountain as target
President Trump Signs a Presidential Memorandum (for illustration purposes only)
INTERNATIONAL: President Donald Trump has said he is deciding whether to “make a deal” with Iran or “finish it off,” as tensions across the Middle East keep investors on edge, according to CNBC.
“Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? It’s getting to be decision time,” Trump said in a Fox News interview on Sunday.
Washington has not confirmed any further strikes on Iran since its Sep 1 attack, with Trump previously indicating that military action would be put off until after the Nov 3 midterm elections. Iranian authorities, meanwhile, have warned that any new US attack would be met with a military response.
Pickaxe Mountain in the crosshairs
Trump named Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried site linked to Iran’s nuclear programme, as a potential target. “We can read the badge on somebody’s shirt from space, okay? We know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe Mountain. We know the other three [nuclear sites] are obliterated,” he said.
He also repeated his claim that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz, citing crude oil flows returning to prewar levels. Both Washington and Tehran have repeatedly claimed control of the waterway, where overall trade flows remain severely curtailed, impacting consumer prices. Energy prices also stay elevated amid the disruption and a global refining squeeze.
An unidentified projectile struck a Singapore-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that led to its sinking.
Iran Revolutionary Guard navy chief Ali Ozmaei said earlier this month that Tehran is “counting the moments” until it can sink American warships.
Diplomacy in motion
Mediators from Qatar, which has played a key role in efforts to broker an agreement, visited Tehran on Sunday, Reuters reported. The visit comes as attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants on Saudi Arabia continued over the weekend.
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Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are also meeting Iran’s leadership in Tehran on Monday. The three countries signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in August, under which an armed attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. It is the group’s first meeting since Houthi missiles and drones struck sites across Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh airport and an administrative building belonging to Saudi Aramco.
Following a series of deadly strikes, Saudi Arabia postponed its flagship Future Investment Initiative conference to 2027 over security concerns.
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