Pickaxe Mountain
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Pickaxe Mountain is the Iranian site that became, in July 2026, the occasion for a public rebuke between allies.

Asked on Fox & Friends about reports of ongoing excavation there, construction vehicles moving in and out of tunnels, new access roads paved, satellite imagery and intelligence indicating active fortification, Donald Trump declined the premise that he needed telling. "Well, I don't need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi's telling me that cuz he wants me to stay involved." He cited Space Force, "We have the greatest cameras in the world focused. So, we know exactly what's going on", and then put the complaint directly: "I heard Bibi announce that. I said, 'Why don't you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world? I know exactly what's going on at Pickax. It's not a big problem. We took out their nuclear sites, and we'll have to take out Pickax if we don't make a deal. We don't make a deal, we'll take it out very easily.'"

Kiriakou's reading

John Kiriakou's assessment is unusually direct: "everything that Donald Trump said there in that clip is true. Everything he said is true."

He explains the mechanism as ordinary political manipulation. Netanyahu is "a consummate uh politician. He's constantly working on public opinion," and knows that American opinion on Israel and on Muslim countries "is is easily malleable. Right? All you have to do is say, 'Islam, terrorism, nuclear.' And everybody just runs around like their hair is on fire." Trump, in Kiriakou's account, is a match for him, "a master of the media. Donald Trump is terrific at manipulating the media. He always has been."

The purpose of announcing Pickaxe publicly rather than privately is therefore leverage: "Because you're trying to influence American public opinion to pressure the president to do what you want him to do. And I think Trump is tired of it. He's tired of Netanyahu constantly trying to manipulate him." What made the exchange notable, he adds, is that presidents faced with an ally briefing the press first normally retreat into stock phrases, "I don't discuss private conversations with foreign leaders", "we're in constant communication", "the situation is evolving", "which is why it is such a big deal that Trump chose to reprimand Netanyahu for discussing strategy with reporters rather than just BS the question."

See also

- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Donald Trump
- Iran Nuclear Assessment
- F-35 sale to Turkey
