Trump Threatens to Bomb Iran's 'Pickaxe Mountain' Nuclear Site as Blockade Casualties Climb

The blockade came back Wednesday. So did the body count.

Since the U.S. Navy reimposed its blockade on Iranian ports early Wednesday, July 15, the fighting has escalated fast. Iranian officials now say 35 people have died and more than 300 are wounded from the latest round of U.S. strikes, according to Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for Iran's Health Ministry. At least 72 people are hospitalized. Kermanpour did not say how many of the dead were civilians versus combatants.

The Guardian reported a slightly different tally from Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani, who said at least 30 civilians have been killed by U.S. strikes in southern Iran in recent days. That's a separate count from the 35 total dead cited by the Health Ministry, and the discrepancy underscores a basic problem: there's no independent verification of casualty figures coming out of Iran right now. Reporters aren't on the ground counting bodies. Every number in this war is coming from one government or the other.

Trump names a new target

Trump made a public threat to strike what he called "Pickaxe Mountain," a fortified underground facility tied to Iran's nuclear program that wasn't hit in either of the two prior rounds of this war. "We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready," Trump said in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, according to the Guardian.

Up to now the strikes have focused on coastal defenses, missile sites and military units: Bandar Abbas, Khormuj, Ahvaz, Qeshm, Bushehr, Kuh-e Stak, and a barracks for Iran's 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Sistan and Baluchestan province, where Iranian state television said at least 13 U.S. missiles killed seven troops, including conscripts. Going after a hardened nuclear site represents a different order of escalation, and Trump reportedly is weighing whether to expand U.S. strikes further as soon as next week.

Iran's counter-threat: shut down the whole region, not just Hormuz

Iran's Revolutionary Guard didn't just threaten to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed. It threatened to halt ALL energy exports from the Middle East, for every country, not just Iran. "The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one," the Guard said, according to both CBS News and PBS.

Iran doesn't control Saudi or UAE export terminals. But it does control missile range over most of the Gulf, and it's already demonstrated it will use it. Jordan said it intercepted three Iranian ballistic missiles Wednesday. Iran also struck Bahrain and Kuwait, both hosts to U.S. military bases, according to the Guardian. Kuwait said it was responding to the attack.

The U.S. said Iran attacked seven commercial ships in the strait last week, killing, wounding or disappearing nearly a dozen crew members, per Reuters reporting cited by the Guardian. Shipping companies are now avoiding the strait even under a U.S. military escort program designed to keep commerce moving. No amount of Navy protection is convincing shippers it's safe.

What actually collapsed here

This blockade wasn't permanent policy. It was reimposed. The U.S. first blockaded Iran in April, then lifted it last month after signing the Islamabad memorandum, an interim deal that paused the fighting and set a 60-day window for nuclear negotiations. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the reimposed blockade had "in a way, dismantled" that memorandum. Those talks are now effectively dead.

Central Command said it "redirected" two commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade within the first 17 hours of reimposing it, and posted that the "military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance." One of Wednesday's strikes hit Greater Tunb Island, a spot some analysts say could let the U.S. control the strait outright if seized. Iran took the island along with Abu Musa and Lesser Tunb from what became the UAE back in 1971, and the UAE has wanted them back since.

The money side

Brent crude briefly topped $86 a barrel Wednesday morning before settling at $84.93, up 0.2% on the day, per CBS News, continuing a rise that pushed past a one-month high on Tuesday, per the Guardian. That's real pain for anyone buying gas or fertilizer, and it's a direct hit to Trump's own political timeline. Republicans are trying to hold Congress in the November midterms, and sustained energy inflation is the last thing the White House wants heading into that fight.

The Treasury Department added a third round of sanctions Wednesday against people accused of running weapons procurement for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, naming two Russian nationals tied to the aviation firm Avratek, an Iranian national who runs Nika Jet Company, and an Italian national accused of helping him. "Treasury will continue to target and disrupt the illicit procurement networks that fund Iran's weapons programs and war machine," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. None of the sanctioned individuals have been charged criminally in the U.S.; Treasury's action is a financial designation, not a prosecution.

Whether Trump follows through on Pickaxe Mountain remains unclear. If the U.S. strikes a hardened nuclear facility that survived two previous wars, that's a threshold nobody has crossed yet in this conflict. It's the kind of move that could turn a blockade standoff into something much bigger, much faster.