Arab News | Trump says US still has to ‘take care’ of one or two targets in Iran

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States has knocked out much of Iran’s military but it still has to “take care of” one or two targets including a suspected nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain.

Trump maintained that negotiations with Iran to end the war that the US and Israel began at the end of February were “going fine but you know they’re not very reliable.”

The US president reiterated that the US was not in a hurry to take offensive action because it had decimated Iran’s military and nuclear program.

“We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,” Trump told reporters at his Florida residence.

“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he added, referring to a suspected underground nuclear complex.

The Iranian government has denied any nuclear work is carried out there.

Earlier Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran and that the United States would be open to a diplomatic solution.

Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday warned the United States and Israel against launching new attacks, following threats to resume strikes after elections.

Trump has warned of the potential for fresh military action after US midterms, saying previously that he was weighing up whether to “finish them off.”