US President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Iran’s nuclear centrifuges at Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried site in central Iran. The threat comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels – who allegedly have Iran’s backing – escalate Red Sea attacks on ships travelling to and from Saudi Arabia, even as Tehran quietly pursues diplomacy through Pakistan.Trump’s Tuesday (July 21) statement follows reports that Iran moved its centrifuges to Pickaxe Mountain, near the damaged Natanz enrichment facility in Isfahan province.
He said the US could strike the site, located roughly 220 kilometres south of Tehran, “very soon”. The site is now among the most closely watched by Western powers, and the relocation signals Iran’s intent to keep rebuilding despite past strikes. Under the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) – an agreement between Iran and world powers including the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China that lifted sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme – Iran had scaled back uranium enrichment, but reignited the programme after Trump withdrew the US from the agreement in 2018.
The threat marks a new phase of the conflict – one blending escalation with proxy warfare and back-channel diplomacy. Analysts warn repeated threats could backfire: constant pressure may push hardliners to see nuclear weapons as their only reliable deterrent against the US.
In March, Trump made a similar threat, giving Iran 48 hours to open the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its nuclear plants.Meanwhile, Houthi rebels in Yemen have widened their campaign in the Red Sea, forcing Saudi crude tankers to turn back and threatening vessels using Saudi ports – a corridor carrying 12-15 per cent of global maritime trade.
Western powers say Iran is using the Houthis, much as it uses Hezbollah in Lebanon and militias in Iraq and Syria, to pressure adversaries without direct confrontation. Tehran denies backing Houthi operations, though Western intelligence claims that Iran supplies drones, missiles and training to the rebels.
Even as strikes continue, Tehran has kept diplomatic channels open, with a senior Iranian official meeting mediators in Pakistan – details of which remain unclear. Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies and a former Israeli military intelligence officer, wrote on X that Iran’s leadership is unlikely to back down regardless of pressure applied, and expanding targets could prompt Tehran to respond in kind.
Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy US intelligence officer for the Middle East now at the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, echoed that view, saying there is little reason to expect the latest strikes to shift Iranian thinking – and that they could instead harden Tehran’s resolve. Yet, both sides appear to be applying military pressure while leaving room for talks – a balancing act likely to define the crisis’s next phase.