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The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the operational headquarters of the Iranian army, warned on July 21 that the United States should not attack any nuclear site in the Islamic Republic.
“It is made clear that should the invading and terrorist forces of that nation take such a step, it will be regarded as an escalation of conflict across the region,” it said in a statement quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency.
“In that event, all US assets, along with those of its allies and backers, will be subject to a decisive strike by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces,” the statement added.
The warning came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to hit any nuclear site the Iranian regime seeks to reconstitute.
“How about these people? They’re in this because of nuclear weapons, and they’re trying to possibly reconstitute a site? We’ll hit that site. Any site where they’re even thinking about nuclear – we’ll be hitting it very, very powerfully,” Trump said during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House.
Earlier that day, the Wall Street Journal reported on Israeli intelligence assessments indicating that Iran relocated thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges to a deep underground facility inside Pickaxe Mountain last year, following the 12-day war with Israel. The report noted that these findings were shared with the U.S.
Pickaxe Mountain is the nickname analysts have given to Kolang Gaz La, a mountain located just east of Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex in Isfahan province, believed to house a deeply buried tunnel network built to protect nuclear infrastructure from potential strikes.
The recent warning from Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters leaves little doubt that Iran will respond to any attack on Pickaxe Mountain or any other nuclear site.
Still, the U.S. will very likely carry out such an attack, especially as Israel appears to be pushing for one. This could turn the ongoing limited confrontation into a full-blown war.
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