Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson alleged in a Sunday post on X that President Donald Trump’s administration could be days away from launching a nuclear strike against Iran under pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Carlson identified Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified nuclear site near the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, as the potential target.
The site contains two deeply buried tunnel complexes that are a major target for the United States and Israel. Questions about whether bunker-buster bombs weighing 13,000 kilograms could reach those facilities form part of the debate over attacking them. Carlson asserted that American conventional weapons could not penetrate 300 feet of granite to destroy tunnels where he said enrichment was supposedly occurring. He presented a nuclear attack as the only military option and cited an unnamed observer who claimed Netanyahu calls Trump about it daily.
Trump has separately discussed Pickaxe Mountain as a possible target for a future attack. In a Newsmax interview cited by the source report, he said the United States was considering the site and described the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, as a non-nuclear weapon. Comparing its power to a small nuclear bomb, Trump nevertheless emphasized that it was not nuclear.
Carlson also tied his allegations to Netanyahu’s political position, claiming the Israeli leader could not form a government without Trump’s direct involvement. He argued that Netanyahu needed both the war and a close relationship with the US president. The source report said Netanyahu had pressed Trump to restart strikes on Iran immediately after the US midterm elections during a conversation Trump described as “very good.”
According to Carlson, Netanyahu was also exerting pressure on senior administration figures, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe. Carlson alleged that Rubio and Ratcliffe were following the Israeli prime minister’s lead.
Carlson warned of an approaching global depression and claimed a nuclear attack would intensify the destruction. He ended his post by urging people to speak out, invoking the prospect of mass deaths, including children.
His allegations came as US forces carried out strikes described as defensive on Iran’s Qeshm Island. A US official told The Wall Street Journal, according to its Monday report, that the attacks were limited and did not mark a return to major combat operations. Earlier Monday, Trump had answered “no” when asked whether he was considering renewed strikes after Tuesday’s election, leaving questions about Washington’s position in the eight-month war.
