Iran has threatened to attack U.S. bases in eastern Europe as President Donald Trump hinted at an imminent strike on the regime’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility.
Iran, on Wednesday, threatened Bulgaria for allowing U.S. military to operate from its territory. “Iran has issued a direct warning to Bulgaria over plans to host US military aircraft, saying Sofia must not allow its territory to become a launchpad for operations against Tehran,” Euronews TV channel reports. “The warning follows a Bulgarian government proposal to temporarily deploy up to eight US aerial refuelling aircraft at Bezmer Air Base in the country’s southeast.”
The regime is already conducting persistent drone and missile strikes against U.S. allies in the Arab Gulf region.
The latest threat from Tehran comes after President Trump, on Tuesday, suggested that the U.S. could hit Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified underground nuclear facility in central Iran. “We’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” the president told reporters, referring to the site. He saw no need to hide the impending strike, adding that “there’s not a thing they can do about it.”
Iran’s central military command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, threatened to attack “all the interests of America, the allies and supporters,” if the site was targeted.
The Pickaxe Mountain facility, buried some 100 metres (328 feet) under the mountain, has been described as a heavily fortified nuclear weapons site. According to Reuters assessment, the site is “beyond the reach of the most powerful bunker buster bombs in the U.S. arsenal.” This, however, does not make it immune to destruction in the wake of a massive airstrike.
President Trump’s remark comes amid Israeli intelligence reports that Iran is relocating key components of its nuclear weapons program to the fortified site. According to The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Iran transferred “thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges” after the 12-day war in June 2025. Tehran needs this equipment to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels.
The WSJ reports:
Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside a mountain last fall, Israeli and U.S. officials say, a development that would heighten concerns that Tehran could reconstitute its nuclear program.Israel passed along the intelligence findings to the U.S., saying the centrifuges were transferred to the Pickaxe Mountain site last fall after the 12-day war in June when American and Israeli strikes pummeled Iran’s three main nuclear sites.
President Trump, on Wednesday, said that the U.S. will hit the regime’s logistical network each time Tehran attacks ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly a week ago, American airstrikes targeted bridges, aviation, and port facilities linked to Iran’s Islamic Guard (IRGC) in retaliation for attacks on commercial shipping in the strait.
“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran,” the president warned on Truth Social.
Later on Wednesday, President Trump threatened to “open the gates of hell” in retaliation for recent Iranian strike that killed four U.S. soldiers.
The U.S. carried out another wave of overnight strikes against the IRGC and military targets, hitting the regime for the eleventh consecutive night. According to Central Command (CENTCOM) on Tuesday night, U.S. forces “targeted Iranian military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
CENTCOM disclosed that “Over the past three months, Iran has attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the international waterway vital for regional and global trade. The unwarranted attacks have endangered hundreds of innocent mariners and undermined freedom of navigation.”
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