US Commentator Claims Trump Could Launch a Nuclear Strike on Iran Within Days
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson says the potential strike, backed by Netanyahu, would target uranium enrichment facilities at Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran.
American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson warned on Monday that President Donald Trump could order a nuclear strike on Iran under pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite reports of Qatari mediation.
In a post on X, Carlson said the potential US target was “Pickaxe Mountain, in Isfahan province in central Iran, where Israeli intelligence claims the Iranian government has reactivated its uranium enrichment programme”.
Trump said in February that he had destroyed Iran’s nuclear programme. On Saturday, however, he threatened another attack on Iran to destroy one or two sites. Tehran vowed a counterattack “without geographical limits”.
On Monday, the US president threatened Iran with a devastating strike, saying: “The only reason I’m not finishing things with Iran is that I want to be a good person. I want to try to save people’s lives there, but at some point we will have to deliver a crushing blow.”
Washington and Tel Aviv accuse Tehran of maintaining nuclear and missile programmes that threaten Israel and US-friendly countries in the region. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful, that it does not seek to produce nuclear weapons and that it does not threaten other countries.
Israel, which occupies Palestinian territory and territory in Lebanon and Syria, is the region’s only country with a nuclear arsenal that is not officially declared and is not subject to International Atomic Energy Agency oversight.
Carlson went on to claim that “no conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite” at Pickaxe Mountain to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is believed to take place.
“The only available military option, therefore, is a nuclear strike,” he argued. “Netanyahu has applied intense pressure for this option. One informed observer says Bibi calls Trump about it every day.”
Israeli opposition leaders accuse Netanyahu, 76, of seeking to bomb Iran to obstruct the formation of the next government after failing to win a governing majority in Tuesday’s election.
Preliminary results gave Netanyahu’s bloc 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, compared with 48 for the Jewish opposition bloc and 19 for Arab parties.
The results leave five possible scenarios: a government supported by Arab parties, a unity government, Netanyahu splitting the opposition, a transitional government or another election.
According to Carlson, “Netanyahu finds himself cornered and desperate. After the election, he cannot form a government unless Trump intervenes directly in Israeli politics and brokers an agreement with other parties that gives him 61 Knesset seats.”
“Otherwise, his tenure as prime minister will end, leaving him facing a bleak future involving prosecution and possibly prison. Netanyahu therefore has to stay close to Trump, and he desperately needs this war,” he added.
Carlson further alleged that Netanyahu had “applied maximum pressure on his closest allies within the US administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and US Central Command chief Brad Cooper”.
He claimed that “both oppose a negotiated settlement to the war they have managed catastrophically and are pushing for the resumption of large-scale combat operations”.
He added that “Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are also following Netanyahu’s lead”. Carlson said Democratic leaders shared the position, alleging that former President Barack Obama had recently expressed opposition at a meeting to the peace agreement with Iran being drafted in Doha.
According to Carlson, “America’s traditional allies in the Middle East are terrified at the prospect of further wars.” He warned that “a nuclear strike would radically accelerate the destruction: radioactive fallout from a ground-level explosion at Pickaxe Mountain would contaminate Gulf waters, poisoning water supplies for more than 100 million people”.
“These are only some of the immediate consequences for the region, while the rest of the world would face risks no less serious,” he said.
Carlson noted that “no country other than the United States, against Japan in 1945, has used nuclear weapons in war, even though some countries might want to”.
He argued that a US nuclear attack on Iran would create a dangerous precedent, claiming that “the Russians have told at least two other governments that an American nuclear strike on Iran would give them the green light to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine”.
He also suggested that “Pakistan and India could find themselves driven to take similar action against each other, as could North Korea against Seoul”.
“Once the first nuclear strike occurs, World War III would become inevitable—a short and decisive war,” he continued.
“We have been moving blindly towards this moment for months. Since February, the US administration has quietly rewritten the country’s nuclear doctrine,” Carlson alleged. He said the change had made first use of “so-called tactical nuclear weapons” easier and more likely, adding: “We now stand on the edge of the abyss.”
According to Carlson, “close observers suggest Trump could decide whether to use nuclear weapons by the end of next week, November 7.” The United States holds its congressional midterm elections on Tuesday.
“Fortunately, Trump appears hesitant. He is currently listening to Vice President JD Vance and his envoy and friend Steve Witkoff, both of whom believe an agreement with Iran remains possible,” he said.
“They are right, although it will not be easy. Negotiations with the Iranians are always difficult and frustrating, and some factions within the Iranian government have become more radical since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family were killed in February,” he added.
He nevertheless said that “overall, people who have spoken to Iranian decision-makers describe a consensus that more war is bad for everyone and that an agreement is worth pursuing”.
Carlson concluded: “One group has not yet been consulted: the world’s population—the hundreds of millions of people who could be killed, along with their children, if Netanyahu pushes Trump into a nuclear strike next week. It is time for them to speak up.”
