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WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - āPresident Donald Trump said the US may have to target Pickaxe Mountain, ā a site linked to Iran's nuclear program, as he aims toĀ ensure Tehran does not get a nuclear weapon.Ā Ā In āan interview with Newsmax on Thursday night, Trump also said he would ānot use a nuclear weapon in the war on Iran, which began in February with US-Israeli strikes.
* Trump said the US ā wanted to make sure Iran will never ā have a nuclear weapon "because if they had it, they would use it."
* "Their nuclear is buried under millions of tons of mountain. Now we're looking at Pickaxe Mountain. We may have āto go there. We'll take a shot at that ā one. We'll knock it out fast," Trump ātold the news outlet.
*Ā Pickaxe Mountain is āa fortified facility buried deep underground near one of Tehran's main nuclear sites.
* The US president said there was āno need to use a nuclear bomb āin Iran. "I wouldn't use ā nuclear. We don't have to."
* Trump reiterated he was ānot considering using US ā ground troops in Iran
* Trump did not say if he had authorized the use of GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, āalso known as āthe "mother of all bombs," against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites. ā He did say the āMOAB bomb was not a nuclear bomb.
(Reporting by Doina āChiacu, Editing by Nick Zieminski)




