US President Donald Trump said October 15 in an interview with Newsmax: “ No plans to deploy troops on ground in Iran,” “I wouldn’t use nuclear,” and “We’ll take a shot at [Pickaxe Mountain.] ”            Trump told Newsmax that: “ Their nuclear is buried under millions of tons of mountain. Now we’re looking at Pickaxe Mountain (where the US and Israel believe Tehran has stored components of its nuclear program.) We may have to go there. We’ll take a shot at that one. We’ll knock it out fast .”            For that ‘ shot’ , the US military has developed strike plans, should President Donald Trump give the order to resume combat operations, that include using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb or MOAB, nicknamed the “ mother of all bombs ”. It is a 30-foot-long, 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition. Trump said in the interview with Newsmax : “ It’s not nuclear at all, thi...

          An article by Phillip Gordon of Brookings published today, October 12, by Foreign Affairs, titled America Shouldn’t Let Go of the Middle East , included several paragraphs about nuclear in Iran worth commenting on. The full paragraphs are below. Here are my comments on three key sentences.  Iran would simply forgo the nuclear option.             The absence of any mention of Iran being an NPT non-nuclear weapon state, which involves its commitment to ‘ forgo the nuclear option ’, is indicative of a blind spot in Washington policy think tanks. In their thinking, the U.S. is dominant; the strong decide what the weak must accept or do. The idea that States (governments) could be relied on to do what they say when they sign an international treaty is considered naïve or something worse. After all, the U.S. only lives up to its treaty commitments when it suits it.            Wha...

          It is difficult to understand how day after day the U.S. President says and writes lies that are reported but not corrected or laughed at in the media. He just called Iranians ‘ freaking crazy ’. That more properly applies to him as this sampling from October 10, 2026, shows.            Trump said during a speech in Tennessee on October 10: " They're a lunatic country. They know that. I tell them that all the time. I say, you guys are freaking crazy ."             Trump in a Truth Social post on October 10 criticizing the Nobel Peace Prize decision said he had settled eight wars and was close to ending or settling two others: “ I ... stopped the number one state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon… I stopped Iran from having a Nuclear Weapon, and blowing up the entire Middle East and, ultimately, far beyond! I saved more lives th...

     Iran International and Al Jazeera reported on September 17, 2026, statements by leaders in the U.S., Iran and Israel (below). Those statements give a good picture of the U.S.-Iran-Israel standoff today. One should take into account campaigning for the upcoming elections with Trump's and Netanyahu's pronouncements.            I believe the betting is that Trump will wait until the midterms have taken place before pushing the ‘annihilate’ button. Noting the cry of alarm from Saudi Arabia and the expanding conflict, by then the interceptors supply in the region will be heading toward zero.  Trump says ‘big decision’ looms on whether to ‘annihilate’ Iran regime       “ I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me ,” Trump told Axios.  Iran president says Tehran will not bow to US, Israel  ...

          Not surprisingly, Al Jazeera gave the fullest reporting on the nuclear-related developments with Iran on September 10. Their headline and subtitles were:            IAEA accuses Iran of ‘noncompliance’                      What has the IAEA accused Iran of?                      How has Iran responded?                      What is the UN Security Council expected to do?                      What impact could this have on the US war against Iran?                      What is the IAEA's history with Iran?  Iran International also posted on Sep 10 reports on numerous related developments....

          Today Reuters headlined:                                                                   Trump says US may hit Iran's Pickaxe Mountain soon .            Meanwhile, on the ‘diplomatic’ front, in advance of the September Board of Governors meeting next week, Reuters has reported that the U.S. is again leading a push for another Board resolution on Iran. This would follow Board Iran resolutions in June 2025, November 2025 and June 2026. This fourth one is the ‘ clincher ’; it would move the Iran nuclear case back onto the UN Security Council agenda, after a 20-year pause.            Why a Board resolution now? Why bomb Pickaxe now?            They...

          ISIS has published its analysis of the IAEA’s report on new developments on the clandestine nuclear program in Syria. As I wrote on August 20, more details “ can be expected to be discussed in the next DG report to the IAEA Board of Governors .”            In my August 20 blog, I went into what it would mean if the disclosed nuclear material was above the ‘ starting point of safeguards ’ or before that point. What has been revealed makes most of that not relevant or applicable.            To my surprise, the material is in the form of some 8,800 fabricated natural uranium metal fuel elements intended as the first core loading of the clandestine DPRK-duplicate graphite moderated, carbon dioxide cooled plutonium production reactor.            Yes, that was undeclared nuclear material that had to be reported to the IAEA under Syria’s NPT safeguard...

IAEA Director General Grossi was in Syria again (He was there in June.) and held a press conference in Damascus with the Syrian Foreign Minister. He reported having visited the site where in 2007 Israel bombed to destruction a nuclear reactor in construction, the buried remains of which are now being excavated, apparently under IAEA inspector observation.       Grossi also mentioned that IAEA inspectors will visit another site where there is nuclear material. He said: “ We’re talking about a few tons of nuclear material that could be put to bad use and Syria has decided to open up this site to the inspectors of the IAEA. This material will be accounted for and will be put within the international safeguard system .” No further details have been published (They can be expected to be discussed in the next DG report to the IAEA Board of Governors.)       Let’s see if DG Grossi’s remarks are correct regarding what the safeguards situation might be for...

Trump posted on August 2: Today's headlines suggest that Trump has the military 'card' and Iran has the rest of the deck. Trump wants a quick ' total surrender' and, not getting that, is likely to go for ' decapitation ' in the coming days. Does he realize that is what Iran wants? They want him to lose badly in the midterms and Netanyahu/Hegseth escalation is likely to achieve that.  Here are the August 3 headlines from Iran International. Trump  • Iran talks to proceed in two phases, Trump says  • Trump says he is giving Iran ' every last chance before decapitation '  • Trump says US blockade to remain until Iran deal or ‘ total surrender ’  • Trump touts ‘ denuclearization of Iran ’ as major achievement   Iran  • No new Iran negotiations planned despite Trump comments - CBS  • Khamenei aide says Trump deliberately kept Israel out of renewed Iran strikes  • Iran rejects US proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz - Al Mayadeen  • Venu...