Trump says US may target Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility

US President Donald Trump has said the United States may target Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain facility as he seeks to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

He also ruled out using nuclear weapons in the war on Iran.

In an interview with Newsmax on Thursday night, Trump said the US wanted to ensure Iran would never acquire a nuclear weapon.

“Their nuclear is buried under millions of tons of mountain. Now we're looking at Pickaxe Mountain. We may have to go there. We'll take a shot at that one. We'll knock it out fast,” Trump said.

Pickaxe Mountain is a heavily fortified underground facility near one of Iran’s main nuclear sites.

Trump said there was no need to use nuclear weapons in the conflict, which began in February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

“I wouldn't use nuclear. We don't have to,” he said.

The US president also reiterated that he was not considering deploying American ground troops in Iran.

Trump did not say whether he had authorised the use of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites. The weapon is also known as the “mother of all bombs”.

He said the MOAB was not a nuclear weapon.