President Donald Trump, in a Fox News interview ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he knows what's happening at Iran's Mount Makosh nuclear site and threatened to destroy the country's bridges and power plants if no deal is reached with Tehran.
President Donald Trump, in a Fox News interview Tuesday afternoon ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stated that he could destroy Iran's bridges "in less than an hour" and its power plants "in a day" if no nuclear deal is reached. He also said he is aware of developments at Iran's Mount Makosh nuclear site without needing Netanyahu's input. The statements, made at approximately 15:48 Jerusalem time, represent an escalation from threats issued minutes earlier.
The new threat follows a rapid sequence of escalating rhetoric. At 15:38, The Zioneer reported that Trump threatened to "take down Mount Makosh easily" if no deal is reached, according to a Channel 12 report. At 15:45, The Zioneer issued a bulletin detailing the same threat. Prior to today, Trump had laid out specific infrastructure targets: on July 6, he said he could destroy all of Iran's bridges in an hour and shut down its electricity in an afternoon; on July 22, he warned that any Iranian attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz would trigger a US strike on a bridge or power plant, including near Tehran. The consistency of the infrastructure threat across multiple statements suggests a deliberate strategic messaging.
As The Zioneer reported on July 21, Trump has committed to striking Mount Makosh "fairly soon," describing the site as storing enriched uranium and centrifuges. The president's focus on the site and now on broader infrastructure aligns with the administration's stated goal of dismantling Iran's nuclear and military capabilities if diplomacy fails. The meeting with Netanyahu, scheduled for Tuesday evening, will take place amid ongoing US-Iran negotiations that have seen repeated ultimatums and threats.
It remains unclear whether the Netanyahu meeting will yield a coordinated Israeli-US position on the nuclear talks, or whether Netanyahu will press for a deal that fully dismantles Iran's nuclear infrastructure. The 15:48 threat signals that the White House is prepared to escalate the kinetic campaign if the diplomatic window closes.
4 developments
- DevelopingTrump: 'I don't need Bibi to tell me about Mount Makosh' — threatens to take it down if no deal
- DevelopingTrump escalates Mount Makosh threat: 'We will reach the site, tell Iran to prepare'
- DevelopingTrump: US will strike Iran's Mount Makosh 'fairly soon', Iran hasn't seen anything yet
- DevelopingTrump says Iran not ready for a deal but will be soon; threatens to destroy bridges, power plants near Tehran if Hormuz attacks continue
Source and signal
- Open-source intake