Trump said on July 13 that the US could soon attack Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected nuclear facility near Natanz, Iran, as part of ongoing military escalation in the US-Israel war on Iran that began in late February 2026. The statement came during a period of intensified hostilities, including Trump's threat to reinstate a naval blockade of Iranian ports and charge tolls on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. This represents an explicit public commitment to a specific military target, escalating the conflict beyond previous rounds of strikes and raising the risk of direct Iran-US military confrontation with unpredictable regional consequences including potential disruption to global oil transit through the Persian Gulf.