President Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, said the United States “may hit Pickaxe very soon,” referring to a site near Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex, according to a report and embedded video published by The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson. During the exchange, ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Trump on whether the fighting amounts to a war.
Threat aimed at ‘Pickaxe Mountain’
The Gateway Pundit reported that Israeli intelligence claims Iran has been rebuilding parts of its nuclear program at a location it calls “Pickaxe Mountain” since last fall. In the Oval Office, Trump said, “We may hit pickaxe very soon,” and asserted the U.S. is tracking activity at the site. These statements were reported by The Gateway Pundit.
‘Is this a war?’
Scott referenced Vice President JD Vance’s comments a day earlier—”I wouldn’t call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting,” and that it was a “conflict”—and asked Trump to define the situation, per The Gateway Pundit’s account. Trump replied, “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us; it’s not a big thing,” comparing it to what he described as a January 3 operation in Venezuela that he said lasted about an hour. He added, “I would say that it’s intermittent. You know, we do intermittent strikes.”
Casualties, deployments, and the Hormuz Strait
According to The Gateway Pundit, Scott pressed Trump on reported U.S. service member deaths and what she called record-long deployments, citing special forces. Trump questioned that premise and contrasted casualty figures across conflicts, saying, “In Venezuela, we lost nobody; in this, we lost 18 people. And in Vietnam, we lost 100,000 people,” while asserting, “We’re not fighting right now. There’s no fighting.” He also claimed, “We control the Hormuz Strait” and said the U.S. had taken out Iranian radar and aircraft near the strait. These statements were attributed to Trump by The Gateway Pundit.
Nuclear red line and prior warning
Trump said, “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon” and reiterated, “We may hit pickaxe very soon,” while claiming the U.S. is “leading in space technology” and monitoring movements at the site, according to the outlet’s account. The Gateway Pundit also noted that in July Trump told reporters the U.S. would “be hitting that area very, probably pretty soon,” referring to the same location.
Afghanistan attack invoked
In the exchange reported by The Gateway Pundit, Trump referenced the 2021 Kabul airport bombing, saying President Biden “lost 13” service members and alleging many more suffered catastrophic injuries. He criticized the use of Kabul’s local airport rather than Bagram.
