Netanyahu pressures Trump into nuclear strikes on Iran — Tucker Carlson
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is purportedly pressing US president Donald Trump into launching a nuclear strike on Iran, Tucker Carlson alleged. Some regional powers have already warned that renewed escalation might be more devastating than the previous round of fighting.
‘Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran’, Carlson wrote on X.
The conservative commentator identified the potential target as Pickaxe Mountain, an underground complex near Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Citing unnamed observers, he alleged that Netanyahu was lobbying Trump while Vice President JD Vance and envoy Steve Witkoff favoured negotiations.
Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran. The target would be Pickax Mountain in central Iran, where Israeli intelligence claims the Iranian government has restarted its nuclear enrichment program. No conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place. The only military option is a nuclear strike. Netanyahu has been pushing hard for one. «Bibi calls Trump about it every day,» says an informed observer. Netanyahu is cornered and desperate. After last week’s election results, he can’t form a government unless Trump intervenes directly in Israeli politics and brokers a deal with other parties that gives Netanyahu 61 seats in the Knesset. Otherwise, he is out as prime minister and on his way to ignominy, investigations and possibly jail. Netanyahu must stay close to Trump. He needs this war. To that end, he’s applied maximum pressure to his closest allies in the administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper. Both oppose a negotiated settlement to the war they’ve so grievously mismanaged; both are pushing to restart major combat operations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe are also following Netanyahu’s lead, as are leaders of the Democratic Party. In a recent meeting on the subject, former president Barack Obama said he opposes the current Iran peace deal being drafted in Doha. The rest of America’s longtime allies in the Middle East are terrified by the prospect of more war. On September 27th, Netanyahu flew secretly to Abu Dhabi to enlist the UAE in his lobbying effort for a final attack on Iran. The Emiratis refused. After eight months of conflict, Gulf economies are teetering. So are global energy and fertilizer markets. They won’t recover soon. Globally, there are a total of about 850 supertankers used to transport oil from producers to the rest of the world. In October alone, 11 of them were badly damaged in Hormuz. At this pace, a global depression is imminent. A nuclear strike would radically accelerate the destruction. Fallout from a ground explosion at Pickax Mountain would contaminate the Persian Gulf, poisoning the water supply for 100 million people. And those are just some of the immediate consequences for the region. The rest of the world is every bit as exposed. No country other than the United States has ever used a nuclear weapon in war. Some would like to. An American nuclear attack on Iran would set a new precedent. The Russians have already told at least two other governments that an American nuclear strike on Iran would free them to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Pakistan and India would be tempted to do the same against each other, as would North Korea against Seoul. After the first nuclear strike, World War Three is inevitable. That war would be short and final. We’ve been sleepwalking toward this moment for months. Since February, the administration has quietly rewritten America’s nuclear doctrine to make first use of so-called «battlefield nukes» easier and therefore more likely. No one in Washington in either party seems bothered by this. Now we’re on the brink of it. Close observers say Trump is likely to decide by next weekend whether or not to use nuclear weapons. That would be November 7, six days from now. To his credit, he’s hesitating. At the moment, Trump is listening to his vice president, JD Vance, and to his envoy and friend Steve Witkoff, both of whom argue a deal with Iran can be made. They’re right, though it won’t be simple. The Iranians are famously frustrating to negotiate with under any circumstances, and elements of that government have become more radical since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family were killed in February. After decades of isolation, even relatively moderate Iranian leaders seem confused by how decisions are made in the West. (There is a widespread belief in Tehran, for example, that the United States government controls Israel.) But overall, people who have spoken to decision-makers in Iran say there is consensus there that more war is bad for everyone and a deal is worth making. One group that hasn’t been consulted so far is the global population — the hundreds of millions of people who will be killed along with their children if Trump is pushed by Netanyahu into launching a nuclear strike next week. Now would be the time for them to speak up.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 2, 2026
Carlson provided no publicly verifiable evidence establishing that a nuclear strike was under consideration, saying that the recent election results have made Netanyahu ‘cornered and desperate’, which is why he ‘needs this war.’
Read more: Israel elections: Can Arab parties help unseat Netanyahu?
Pressure to strike Iran as escalation fears rise
Trump publicly ruled out nuclear use in an October 15 interview, saying, ‘I wouldn’t use nuclear. We don’t have to,’ according to Reuters.
Axios reported that Netanyahu favoured launching strikes after Tuesday’s US midterm elections, while Trump wanted more time for negotiations. Separately, AP reported on 29 October that US officials had warned regional allies to prepare for possible renewed attacks and Iranian retaliation.
Multi-source imagery analysis of Pickaxe Mountain reveals more road activity in 2026 than the last six years. Given the level of construction activity at the site, there is reason to doubt that Iran is conducting uranium enrichment at the facility right now, write CSIS experts. Read more: https://t.co/vBqZRK64Vh
— CSIS (@CSIS) September 13, 2026
Iranian negotiators and Qatari mediators held a third consecutive day of discussions in Doha on Sunday, according to Reuters. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump had not decided on further strikes and preferred a diplomatic resolution.
Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty warned that «the second round [of escalation] will be more dangerous, more destructive, and it will lead to nowhere,» as cited by the news agency.
Iran has threatened retaliation against US and Israeli targets in neighbouring countries if attacked again. The conflict has already disrupted global oil supplies and shipping through the Gulf.
Dig deeper: Why war-related disruption could prolong the global diesel shortage
What is inside Pickaxe Mountain?
The facility’s depth and uncertain purpose have made it a focus of concern. A satellite-imagery analysis released by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies captured construction works at the site but could not substantiate reports that Iran had moved centrifuges inside.
Carlson argued that nuclear weapons were the only way to destroy the complex. CSIS described it as being difficult to destroy with conventional weapons, while noting that attacks could degrade or temporarily disable it.
