US Weighs Nuclear Strike on Iran Facility

"Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran," Tucker Carlson wrote on X, naming Pickaxe Mountain as the target and arguing that "no conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place."

Tucker Carlson’s claim and immediate reactions

Carlson’s post on X, published two days before the Nov. 3, 2026, U.S. midterm elections, asserted that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been pressing the White House for a nuclear strike on Pickaxe Mountain (Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La) and quoted an “informed observer” saying “'Bibi calls Trump about it every day.'” The White House dismissed the assertion, telling reporters, “President Trump has a wide range of options available regarding Iran, and he will do what is right to keep the American people safe,” and adding that “Tucker Carlson lost his way long ago due to a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, and he has no insight into military planning or the Commander-in-Chief’s thinking.”

President Trump’s public statements on nuclear use

The president has repeatedly framed nuclear use as unnecessary. In April he asked, “We don’t need it. Why do I need it?” and said, “A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.” He reiterated a similar stance in August: “They’re totally defeated militarily, so I defeat them, and now I should use a nuclear weapon on top of them? What a stupid question.” The president also told reporters “no” when asked whether he was considering attacking after the midterm election date Carlson referenced. Still, the article notes Carlson has a history of making stark claims and has recently had a rift with the president; the piece says there is no known source for Carlson’s specific allegation and that the claim has not been verified.

Pickaxe Mountain (Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La): the target described

Pickaxe Mountain is identified in reporting as a deeply buried, hardened facility in central Iran. Sources cited say Iran has discussed placing centrifuge production there and that the site is estimated to be large enough to house an enrichment plant and other nuclear infrastructure, though “exactly what is inside remains unconfirmed.” The article notes recent construction at the site and says that those works, especially in the past five years, appear responsive to prior U.S. threats.

B61-11, conventional munitions, raids and other options

The piece details the weapons and tactics discussed publicly by experts and in reporting. The B61-11 is described as “the only air-delivered nuclear weapon in the U.S. stockpile today that is specifically designed to address this target set,” with sources differing on yield—either between 340 and 360 kilotons or closer to 400 kilotons—and “reportedly fewer than 100 of these bombs in the stockpile.” Hans Kristensen is quoted: given that yield, “one could probably do the job,” while warning of “considerable” collateral damage and residual radiation.

Non‑nuclear options discussed include the 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which the article says was central to the June 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer strikes where 12 MOPs were dropped on Fordow and two on Natanz; those strikes targeted ventilation shafts to reach underground complexes. The report notes uncertainty about how many MOPs remain and whether Pickaxe Mountain even has exploitable ventilation shafts.

The article cites a CBS News report that the White House and Pentagon “have prepared plans to use a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb [MOAB] to hit military sites in Iran,” including Pickaxe Mountain, while underscoring the MOAB (GBU-43/B) is a 22,000‑pound fuel‑air weapon—not a deep penetrator—cleared for C-130 employment and used once in combat in 2017. Other options raised in the reporting include cyber attacks, Special Operations Forces raids, and — as Tyler Rogoway discussed — possibilities such as a dirty bomb or an Israeli insertion, though the article stresses such missions would be immensely challenging and risky.

Humanitarian and geopolitical fallout

Experts quoted in the article argue that use of a nuclear weapon against Pickaxe Mountain would carry grave humanitarian and geopolitical consequences. Hans Kristensen, using NUKEMAP simulations, said a surface burst could spread debris “nearly 300 km downwind,” and warned that a penetrating nuclear blast would increase fallout because it would lift radioactive soil into the atmosphere. Stephen I. Schwartz noted past U.S. underground tests that accidentally vented radioactive material and argued, “The larger the explosion, the larger the venting.” Schwartz listed countries that could be downwind depending on winds, including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Commentators framed the strategic effects in stark terms. Tyler Rogoway wrote that any use “would open up Pandora’s box and would make the U.S. and the world dramatically less safe,” calling it potentially “the largest foreign policy error ever by the United States.” Hans Kristensen warned that breaking an 81‑year absence of nuclear use could “turn the United States into the nuclear pariah,” and Schwartz said such an attack would “almost certainly unleash both global condemnation (apart from Israel) and a new wave of nuclear proliferation.”

What this means for the U.S. military, Israel, and regional states

• U.S. military and planners: will be watching inventory and options the reporting cites — B61-11, the remaining MOPs used in 2025 strikes, and the MOAB contingency — and weighing operational limits and fallout risks described by experts.
• Israel and Israeli leadership: are presented in the article as pressing for action in Carlson’s account and are noted to possess delivery means and an undeclared nuclear capability that the piece says could be brought to bear in various ways.
• Regional governments and populations: face the risks catalogued by experts — wide dispersal of radioactive debris depending on wind and deeply destabilizing geopolitical consequences if a nuclear weapon were used.

The article concludes by stressing there is no direct evidence published that the president is contemplating nuclear use against Iran. Even so, the claim’s circulation and the grave stakes experts describe make the question — whether it has been seriously raised inside a government — one that reporters, officials, and publics will continue to press. Read the original story: https://www.twz.com/nuclear/a-nuclear-strike-on-iran-it-sounds-absurd-because-it-is-lets-talk-about-it