Trump threatens Pickaxe Mountain as Oman floats 3-lane Hormuz plan

President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran's underground Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility if negotiations fail, as Oman advanced a proposal to jointly manage Strait of Hormuz shipping — offering a potential diplomatic off-ramp to a conflict that has killed 60 people in the past 12 days.

"Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved," Trump said on Fox & Friends, criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for publicly disclosing intelligence about Iranian excavation at the site one mile south of the Natanz enrichment complex. "I know exactly what's going on at Pickaxe. It's not a big problem. We took out their nuclear sites and we'll have to take out Pickaxe if we don't make a deal."

The dual-track dynamic — military escalation alongside diplomatic outreach — defined the hours before Trump's Oval Office meeting with Netanyahu on Tuesday, their first face-to-face since the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran began in late February. No press conference was scheduled after the meeting, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which about 21% of global oil trade passes, has emerged as the primary flashpoint in the conflict's latest phase. Oman's proposed mechanism, modeled on the Malacca Strait management system, would allow vessels to make voluntary contributions to a fund for environmental protection and search-and-rescue operations, according to a Gulf source cited by CCTV. The plan has drawn support from some regional countries, though Iran's response remains unclear.

Iran's red line on strait passage

Iran's armed forces have drawn a sharp boundary around any compensation mechanism tied to frozen Iranian assets. The spokesman for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said any country or company accepting U.S. payment using Iranian assets would have its vessels barred from the Strait of Hormuz, according to state-run IRIB.

The threat introduces a binary risk for global shipping: vessels from nations that engage with the U.S. compensation framework could face denial of passage through the 21-mile-wide chokepoint. The last time Iran threatened to close the strait was in 2019 after the U.S. withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, when crude prices spiked about 15% over two weeks before diplomatic channels reopened.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Monday that Tehran rejected an American proposal and has made no requests to continue negotiations — directly contradicting Trump's claim that "very friendly negotiations" are underway. "They want to meet, and we're meeting," Trump said in Michigan. "They requested a meeting through their surrogates and directly."

Military operations continue amid pause

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Tuesday that U.S. warplanes and tanker aircraft have been operating from Israeli military bases for strikes on Iran, marking the first official acknowledgment of the arrangement. The Israel Defense Forces separately said it intercepted a drone at the Jordan border that did not cross into Israeli territory.

Trump reiterated his threat to strike Iranian infrastructure, saying bridges could be destroyed "in two hours" and power plants "in one day," while acknowledging that targeting desalination plants would hurt civilians. "I'm not looking to do that," he said.

The Iranian Health Ministry reported 60 dead and about 670 injured from U.S. strikes over the past 12 days. Trump dismissed the conflict as a "little situation" and said the economic impact would resolve soon.

On the diplomatic front, the next round of U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon is scheduled for Rome from Aug. 4 to 6, following a pilot scheme that saw Israeli forces withdraw from one of three south Lebanon villages last week. The framework agreement aims to expand the pilot zone process, resolve outstanding border issues, and work toward a comprehensive peace and security agreement, a State Department official said.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.