US strike hits key bridge, airport in southern Iran - IRGC outlet

The newspaper, citing US officials, said Trump was weighing military action against the site after days of briefings from senior aides.

According to the Journal, Iran began building the underground complex near the Natanz nuclear facility in 2020 after an aboveground enrichment plant was damaged in what was widely seen as an act of sabotage. The following year, then-Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the site would house “sensitive” equipment.

The Journal, citing former US and Israeli officials, said the mountain complex could play an important role in any future Iranian effort to rebuild its nuclear program, although construction appears incomplete and it is unclear whether any nuclear activity is taking place there.

The report said Iran has not provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with design information for the site. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in March that inspectors should be allowed to visit the facility.

The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security estimated in a 2022 report that the underground complex could exceed 5,000 square meters (53,000 square feet) and could eventually house a uranium enrichment plant as well as other nuclear-related activities. The think tank also said recent satellite imagery showed construction had resumed after the June 2025 conflict.

The Journal quoted Dan Shapiro, a former senior Pentagon official in the Biden administration, as saying the site had become “a plausible target for attack” because Trump was concerned Iran could eventually reverse damage inflicted on its nuclear program during last year's war.

Matthew Sharp, a senior nuclear fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former US diplomat to the IAEA, told the newspaper that Pickaxe is deeper underground and less well understood than Fordow, making it a more difficult target for airstrikes.

Israel is preparing for a possible escalation in fighting between the United States and Iran next week, following recent remarks by US President Donald Trump and ongoing diplomatic developments, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday.

Israel believes the United States may begin targeting Iranian civilian infrastructure, in line with Trump’s recent comments, the report said.

A senior Israeli official cited by Channel 12 said that Israel was “preparing for an escalation of the confrontation and is ready for any scenario affecting Israel,” while saying current assessments remained that the conflict was limited and that Israel was not a direct party to it.

Channel 12 also cited two Arab diplomats as saying Qatar had submitted a new proposal to Washington and Tehran aimed at reviving negotiations and reducing tensions.

Iranian officials viewed the proposal as relatively favorable to Tehran’s position, and attacks on Qatar had reportedly stopped since it was presented, according to the report.

Iran would target infrastructure across the region if its own infrastructure were damaged, senior armed forces spokesperson said on state broadcaster IRIB on Thursday.

Abolfazl Shekarchi said the United States and Israel "have no right to be in the region" and described the Islamic Republic's control of the Strait of Hormuz as "a source of security for the entire region."

Shekarchi said Iran remained committed to the withdrawal of US forces from the region and would "never" relinquish its position on the Strait of Hormuz.

"We delivered a crushing response to the enemy and will continue to do so. They have suffered heavy blows," he added.

The judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency denied on Thursday that any American prisoner had been released or exchanged, after President Donald Trump said a day earlier that Tehran had allowed a US citizen who was “wrongfully detained” since December 2024 to leave the country.

Trump did not identify the woman. According to a Reuters report, human rights lawyer Jared Genser identified her as Dena Karari, a California resident who had been prevented from leaving Iran after authorities confiscated her passport during a visit to Shiraz in December 2024.

Karari was not formally detained but was repeatedly interrogated before being allowed to leave Iran, according to Reuters.

Iran continues to hold talks with the United States and wants to reach a deal, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday.

“Iran very much continues to talk to the United States of America and has expressed that they want to make a deal with us because they are suffering devastating blows” from the US military, Leavitt said.

She said recent US strikes followed what Washington described as Iran’s violation of the Iran-US memorandum of understanding barring attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

“President Trump is not going to sit by and allow these active acts of terrorism to take place in the Strait without ensuring Iran pays consequences for that,” she said.

Leavitt said Trump remained open to diplomacy but would not allow Iran to attack shipping without consequences.

She said the US had demonstrated it could strike Iran “anytime, anywhere, any place,” adding that Tehran’s ability to defend itself had been “essentially wiped out.”