Symbolic imageTrump says US may strike Pickaxe Mountain as Iran reports tanker fire in Gulf of Oman
Trump told Newsmax the US may have to strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site. Iran's military reported a tanker on fire in the Gulf of Oman.
In the interview on Thursday, 15 October, Trump said "We may have to go there" and "We'll knock it out fast", and saw no role for US ground forces. He did not confirm CNN's report, citing US officials, that plans include a MOAB bomb, but stressed it is not nuclear. He said the war will end very soon because Iran is negotiating.
Tanker fire and air defences
The Hindu reports that Iran's military says an oil tanker is on fire in the Gulf of Oman. Bloomberg reports that Iran is boosting its air defences as it braces for fresh US attacks.
Iran's terms for Hormuz
Army spokesman Mohammad Akrami-Nia said on Friday that the strait will reopen if US forces leave the region, and that Iran will expel them if they stay.
Fuel slips past blockade
Reuters reports, citing United Against Nuclear Iran, that at least eight tankers with Iranian LPG have left the Gulf of Oman since mid-July, about 4.1 million barrels, and that a jet fuel cargo reached Myanmar in September. US Central Command calls its blockade "ironclad".
Other opinions
Iran's ambassador to Moscow, quoted by Russia's state agency TASS, says Washington shows no serious will to negotiate and blames US and Israeli aggression and the blockade for the Hormuz crisis.