Trump says there is a “very good chance” of an Iran deal but warns U.S. could strike Pickaxe Mountain within an hour

President Donald Trump said Monday night that there was a “very good chance” the United States would reach an agreement with Iran, while warning that Washington could strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site if negotiations fail.

Speaking to Sean Hannity on Fox News on the eve of the U.S. midterm elections, Trump repeatedly played down the scale of the conflict with Iran, calling it a “very soft war” and arguing that months had passed without sustained fighting.

“There’s no war raging,” Trump said. “It could happen if they don’t make a deal, but they want to make a deal very badly, and there is a very good chance we make a deal.”

Trump said he would prefer an agreement because it would “save a lot of lives,” but maintained that the United States was negotiating from what he called a position of “total strength.”

Referring to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, Trump said the U.S. had already struck facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer and added: “Now, we might have to go after Pickaxe, but that’s not a big deal. We can do it in literally one hour.”

Pickaxe Mountain is a deeply buried Iranian site linked to the country’s nuclear program and has emerged as a possible target if Washington resumes broader military operations.

Trump also described Iran as “an evil nation” that had killed Americans, citing former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani as an example.

At several points, Trump questioned whether the current confrontation should even be called a war. “What’s a war? A war is fighting,” he said, later adding: “When was the last time we fired anything? This isn’t a war. This is a very soft war.”

Those remarks came shortly after U.S. forces carried out limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island after Iranian surface-to-air missiles were fired at American assets, according to U.S. officials.

Trump also dismissed concerns about the financial cost of the conflict. Responding to a congressman’s estimate that the Iran war had cost $30 billion, Trump called that figure “peanuts,” although the Pentagon has put the broader cost above $47 billion.

He ended the interview by urging Republicans to turn out in Tuesday’s elections, warning that policies enacted during his second term could be “wiped out” if Democrats gain control of Congress.