US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had no need for intelligence from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility, dismissing the site as “not a big problem,” and saying that the Israeli leader was only going to bring it up at their meeting later in the day, because “he wants me to stay involved.”

His comments came as he was set to host Netanyahu for a meeting, their first since the outbreak of the war at the end of February, and amid reports that ties between the leaders had become strained as the conflict lingered without a clear resolution.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump expressed his irritation with Netanyahu.

“I don’t need Bibi to tell me” things related to intelligence on the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site. “We know exactly what’s going on,” Trump insisted.

The US president also vented frustration that Netanyahu mentioned Iranian construction at the underground site publicly: “I heard Bibi announce that. I said, Why didn’t you just tell it to me? Why’d you have to announce it to the world? I know exactly what’s going on,” he repeated.

“It’s not a big problem,” Trump continued. “We took out their nuclear sites, and we’ll have to take out Pickaxe if they don’t make a deal.”

Trump also claimed he “could take out most of their bridges in less than an hour,” and all of Iran’s power plants within a day. He further claimed he saved Israel by stopping Iran’s nuclear program.

“If I weren’t president today, Israel would not exist,” said Trump.

While the US and Israel hit multiple Iranian nuclear sites in the 12-day war last year and in the latest conflict, Pickaxe Mountain has not been hit by the US or Israel. Trump has threatened to bomb it a number of times.

Iran has not allowed the UN’s nuclear watchdog access to the Pickaxe Mountain site. International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said Iran in 2021 declared its “intention to have nuclear activity” there.

Pickaxe Mountain, whose peak rises to some 1,600 meters above sea level, is ‌located 220 km (140 miles)........

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