Donald Trump is being pressured by Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a nuclear strike against Iran, Tucker Carlson has claimed.
The Israeli Prime Minister, who is currently mired in an election deadlock to form a new government, is said to be pressing Washington for a historic escalation in the war with Tehran.
Mr Carlson, citing no other sources beyond an “informed observer”, said that a nuclear strike on the Islamic Republic could be just “days away”.
The talk show host, who has been intensely critical of President Trump’s campaign against Iran and his relationship with Mr Netanyahu, made the remarks in a lengthy social media post.
He suggested the target for a nuclear strike would be Pickaxe Mountain, found a mile from the Natanz Nuclear complex and home to a suspected vast underground facility.
Mr Carlson said the site is 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.”
In June 2025, the US launched Operation Midnight Hammer to strike the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.
After the attack, Washington said bunker buster bombs, dropped from B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, had successfully penetrated the facilities’ defences and knocked out Tehran’s nuclear weapons capacity.
However, strategic analysis suggests such weapons would be ineffective against a hypothetical base buried deep within Pickaxe Mountain.
“The only military option is a nuclear strike,” Mr Carlson claimed, adding that his source told him that Mr Netanyahu “calls Trump about it every day”.
President Trump previously spoke on Pickaxe Mountain, suggesting on October 15 that the US could strike the complex.
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“Their nuclear is buried under millions of tons of mountain. Now we’re looking at Pickaxe Mountain. We may have to go there. We’ll take a shot at that one. We’ll knock it out fast,” he said.
Later that month, the US leader admitted: “We still have to take care of, I would say, one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes.
“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he added.
Speculation continues to swirl that President Trump will resume the bombing campaign against Iran following tomorrow’s Midterm elections.
A Wall Street Journal report suggested that the US leader spoke with Mr Netanyahu about returning to strikes this week, although the specifics of their discussion are unknown.
Mr Carlson also claimed that Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Central Command commander Brad Cooper were also being pressured to launch a nuclear strike.
The talk show host alleged that Mr Netanyahu was “cornered and desperate” following last week’s Israeli 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,” Mr Carlson said.
Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, comprising Likud and its ultra-nationalist and religious Orthodox allies, has secured 53 seats, eight short of the 61 required to command a parliamentary majority.
Former IDF commander Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar Party and its “change bloc” partners won 48 seats.
The deadlock has been further complicated by the surprise success of Arab parties, with Joint List taking 12 seats, whilst Ra’am, the conservative party led by Mansour Abbas, claiming seven.
It means that the two Arab parties could now act as potential kingmakers.
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