{"id":217596,"date":"2026-07-22T05:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/217596\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T05:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:44:14","slug":"iran-us-war-updates-trump-threatens-to-attack-nuclear-site-as-hegseth-reveals-staggering-cost-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/217596\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-US war updates: Trump threatens to attack nuclear site as Hegseth reveals staggering cost of war"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Trump threatens to strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has warned that the US military will hit Iran\u2019s “Pickaxe Mountain” nuclear complex soon.<\/p>\n

Trump said the US military would be “hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” referring to Pickaxe Mountain \u2013 known in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La \u2013 a fortified underground site near one of the country’s main nuclear enrichment facilities.<\/p>\n

Pickaxe Mountain, about 220km south of Tehran and near the Natanz nuclear facility, is believed to house an underground complex buried nearly 100 metres inside the mountain.<\/p>\n

\"AA satellite view shows vehicles at an entrance to Pickaxe Mountain tunnels, of the of the Natanz nuclear facility, near Natanz, Iran, June 21, 2026. (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Little is known about the site, which experts say is still under construction, and is likely too deep to be reached by even the US’s most advanced bunker buster missiles.<\/p>\n

According to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), the facility was not targeted during the US-Israeli strikes in either the 2025 or 2026 conflicts. <\/p>\n

Shweta Sharma22 July 2026 06:22<\/p>\n

<\/a>WATCH: Hegseth accuses US senator of having ‘Trump derangement syndrome’<\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin22 July 2026 06:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Hegseth’s new estimate for the cost of the war: Nearly $38 billion<\/p>\n

Pete Hegseth\u2019s latest estimate for the growing costs of the Iran war has now reached $37.5 billion.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s likely a low-end estimate, according to analysts.<\/p>\n

Before the last week of attacks, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimated total costs to have reached between $34 billion and $42 billion. Other estimates place the true cost of the war at more than $100 billion.<\/p>\n

Shweta Sharma22 July 2026 05:58<\/p>\n

<\/a>Trump warns Iran the US \u2018has been nice\u2019 so far in attacks as threat of full-blown war grows<\/p>\n

Speaking in the Oval Office Tuesday alongside Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, Trump said Iran was once again being \u201cdecimated\u201d<\/a> and disclaimed any interest in new ceasefire negotiations after a wave of attacks on US bases and allies. <\/p>\n

But he cautioned the US could escalate attacks on Iran in ways that would leave the country\u2019s infrastructure so devastated it could take \u201cdecades\u201d for Tehran to rebuild as the renewed conflict heads into a third full week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to desperately meet, and until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest\u201d, the US president<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we left today, it would take them decades to rebuild, and I don’t believe they’d ever rebuild. And honestly, they haven’t seen anything yet \u2014 we’ve been nice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Andrew Feinberg22 July 2026 05:32<\/p>\n

<\/a>Iran claims strikes in Kuwait and Amazon data centre in Bahrain<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s military claims it struck US military targets at Camp Doha in western Kuwait and Amazon\u2019s central data infrastructure in Bahrain in Tuesday\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n

In a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the Iranian military said its forces destroyed \u201ca US long-range radar site, a communications center, satellite receiving systems, a missile defense radar, and a MQ-9 drone hangar\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"SatelliteSatellite image shows smoke rising from Subiya Power and Water Desalination Plant (Reuters)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran \u2013 with sacred unity \u2013 stand ready to decisively counter any new conspiracy and adventurism by the enemy,\u201d the statement added, calling Camp Doha a major support hub for US personnel and equipment in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn MQ-9 drone hangar was also hit at the Ali al-Salem base, and a number of drones were destroyed or completely damaged,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

It also said that it destroyed the central data infrastructure of the American company Amazon in Bahrain with several cruise missiles.<\/p>\n

It said the attack was in response to the US\u2019s alleged attack on the “civilian facilities of Darkhovey” \u2013 an under-construction nuclear power plant in Iran. <\/p>\n

Shweta Sharma22 July 2026 05:20<\/p>\n

<\/a>WATCH: Hegseth says ‘inability’ to fund Pentagon is ‘single greatest threat’ to US<\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin22 July 2026 05:04<\/p>\n

<\/a>US military says 11th successive night of strikes on Iran has ended<\/p>\n

The US military says it has concluded its latest round of strikes on Iran, marking the 11th consecutive night of American attacks.<\/p>\n

Centcom said the 75-minute operation targeted Iranian military operations centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities and logistics infrastructure to further degrade Tehran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Washington said Iran had attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the strategic waterway over the past three months. <\/p>\n

Shweta Sharma22 July 2026 04:47<\/p>\n

<\/a>MAGA congressman shrugs off Americans killed in Iran as the \u2018nature of warfare\u2019<\/p>\n

Rep. Carlos Gim\u00e9nez<\/a>, who sits on the House\u2019s Armed Services Committee, made the remark while discussing the escalating conflict with CNN Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know my condolences go out to the families of our servicemen and women that are killed \u2013 have been killed \u2013 in Iran. That\u2019s the nature of warfare; we will have some casualties,\u201d Gim\u00e9nez told \u201cThe Lead<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ariana Baio22 July 2026 04:29<\/p>\n

<\/a>US military shares promo-style video of blockade as 8 ships redirected and 1 disabled<\/p>\n

US Central Command has shared a promo-style video of American troops enforcing its blockade of Iranian ports as eight ships have been redirected and one disabled as of Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin22 July 2026 04:02<\/p>\n

<\/a>Rubio says US open-minded on Middle East, but Iran not serious about talks<\/p>\n

\u200bUS state secretary Marco Rubio said on Wednesday the \u2060United States is open-minded on the Middle East conflict and \u2060willing to \u200bengage, \u2060negotiate and settle differences with Iran, \u2060but Tehran was \u200bnot \u2060serious about \u200ctalks.<\/p>\n

“If they’re serious, we’re serious. If \u200cthey’re not, then \u200cwe will do what’s necessary to protect \u2060our interests, and also the interests of our allies,” Rubio said in remarks in a meeting with \u200cSoutheast Asian counterparts \u200bin Manila, \u200cwho have \u2060expressed serious concern about \u2060the renewed hostilities.<\/p>\n

Shweta Sharma22 July 2026 04:01<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trump threatens to strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site Donald Trump has warned that the US military will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[328,25999,9594,34,23774],"class_list":["post-217596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-business","tag-civil-conflict","tag-demonstrations","tag-iran","tag-riots"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116962044643818269","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}