Nearly six months after the start of the war between the United States and Iran, tensions remain high on several fronts. Donald Trump threatened to soon strike the Mount Pickaxe, a heavily fortified site located near the Natanz nuclear facility, while Washington simultaneously tightens its financial pressure on Tehran. In Lebanon, new Israeli strikes left three dead and 23 injured.
The American president said on Friday that the United States could strike “very soon” Mount Pickaxe, located near the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, which has already been heavily damaged. Reuters describes the site as housing two deeply buried tunnel complexes.
According to available information, this mountainous area lies in Isfahan Province, about 220 kilometers south of Tehran and roughly two kilometers from Natanz. Rising to an altitude of around 1,600 meters and surrounded by rock formations, the site is considered particularly difficult to reach in depth.
Experts cited in the available information estimate that its level of protection could pose a challenge even to American bombs designed to penetrate buried installations. The exact condition of the infrastructures beneath the mountain and their function remains difficult to determine independently.
Essentials
Trump threatens Mount Pickaxe: the American president says the United States could strike soon this fortified site near Natanz, Iran.
Economic pressure intensifies: Washington has sanctioned the Turkish bank Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and two of its subsidiaries, Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi and Golden Global Varlik Kiralama. The bank denies these accusations.
24 million barrels transferred: TankerTrackers says it has observed 17 ship-to-ship transfers of oil and gas in the Gulf of Oman.
The cost of the war rises in the United States: diesel has reached $5.85 per gallon, a record high.
Investigation within the American military: around fifty service members have been questioned about leaks concerning stockpiles of ammunition, with some senior officials subjected to polygraph tests.
The Lebanese front remains active: Lebanon reports 3 dead and 23 injured in Israeli strikes, following a drone attack attributed by Israel to Hezbollah.
Trump also discusses alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump has simultaneously downplayed the military difficulty of the conflict for the United States and insisted on the existence, in his view, of alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.
The American president mentioned transporting oil by trucks through Syria as well as the construction of numerous pipelines in the Middle East. These statements come as control of energy flows remains one of the war’s main economic stakes.
Traffic through Hormuz remains disrupted, even as Washington says it has gradually improved passage conditions for some ships. The specialized service TankerTrackers reported on Thursday 17 oil and gas ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, representing at least 24 million barrels of crude oil and energy products.
Other tankers were waiting, according to this source, to be able to carry out similar operations.
Diesel reaches $5.85 per gallon in the United States
The consequences of the conflict are now being felt directly in the United States.
The average price of diesel reached Friday the record level of $5.85 per gallon, surpassing the previous peak recorded in 2022 after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Diesel has risen by more than 55% since the war began against Iran.
This surge directly affects road transport, agriculture, construction and supply chains. It also risks fueling the prices of numerous consumer goods, as businesses pass on their transport costs gradually.
The rise in energy thus constitutes an increasingly important economic and political issue for the Trump administration, just months before the U.S. midterm elections.
Washington sanctions a Turkish bank and two subsidiaries
On the economic front, the U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions against the Turkish investment bank Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi as well as two of its subsidiaries, Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi and Golden Global Varlik Kiralama.
Washington accuses these entities of facilitating transactions between China and the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and of taking part in mechanisms that allow Iran to convert petro revenues into cash and gold. The three entities were placed on the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, which among other things severs them from the U.S. dollar financial system.
Golden Global rejected the accusations. The bank says it has complied with banking regulations and national and international compliance obligations and announced its intention to pursue all available legal remedies.
The American ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, sought to dissociate this decision from relations with Ankara. According to him, the measure targets the behavior of a particular institution and does not constitute a judgment on Turkey or its entire banking system.
Washington presents these sanctions as a new element of its strategy to gradually close the financial circuits used by Tehran.
Pezeshkian calls on Iranians to stay united
In Tehran, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian accused Iran’s adversaries of wanting to use the blockade and economic difficulties to provoke internal divisions.
He urged Iranians to preserve their unity, saying that it would help derail projects aimed, in his view, at destabilizing the country.
American economic pressure has intensified sharply in recent weeks. Iranian oil exports have fallen sharply and Tehran’s access to foreign currency has become more difficult, while inflation and the devaluation of the rial heighten pressure on the economy.
An American strategy for the next two years
Alongside military operations and sanctions, the White House is already thinking about the post-war period.
According to Axios, Donald Trump and his top advisers are working on a new American strategy for the Middle East, aimed in particular at containing Iran during the last two years of his term.
The project is still in its early stages. The work proceeds on two levels: political, among senior administration officials, and operational, across several federal agencies.
The goal would be to define U.S. regional policy once the current phase of the war ends, without setting a precise timetable for exiting the conflict.
About fifty military personnel questioned about sensitive leaks
The war is also causing tensions within the American military apparatus.
According to the New York Times, around 50 members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been questioned as part of an investigation into leaks to the press, notably about the status of U.S. ammunition stocks deemed essential.
CBS News reports, for its part, that several senior military officials have undergone polygraph tests as part of this investigation.
The information sought concerns, among other things, the stockpiles of sophisticated weapons and the consumption of certain munitions since the start of operations against Iran.
According to the reports, none of the officials questioned for potential leaks to the media failed this part of the tests. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, is said not to have been subjected to the polygraph.
The increase in these checks comes as several senior military officials have privately expressed concerns about the duration of the conflict and the pressure on U.S. missile and interceptor stocks.
Israel strikes Lebanon again
Tensions also spill over to the Lebanese front.
The Israeli army says it intercepted a drone attack launched by Hezbollah toward its soldiers, before carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese Health Ministry reports three dead and 23 injured in the Israeli strikes. Among the injured are rescuers, as well as women and children.
Israel also says it will continue its operations against Hezbollah infrastructure in the south of the country. The Lebanese front remains active despite diplomatic efforts to prevent a new spread of the fighting.
A war that is now military, financial and energy-based
At this stage, the conflict is no longer fought only in the air or around Iranian military installations.
Washington now combines military strikes, maritime blockade, financial sanctions and pressure on oil exports, while Tehran seeks to preserve its energy revenues and its ability to retaliate.
The American threat against Mount Pickaxe shows that deeply buried nuclear facilities remain at the center of military calculations. At the same time, the record diesel price in the United States underlines that the war’s duration also carries an escalating economic cost for Washington.
Finally, the maintenance of hostilities in Lebanon highlights the risk of a multi-front regional war, even as the Trump administration begins to develop a strategy for the post-conflict period.
