Trump before meeting Netanyahu: I know what is going on at the Pickaxe Mountain site and it is not a big problem

US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, 28 July 2026 (6 Mordad 1405) before hosting Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, said of the underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain: "I know exactly what's going on at Pickaxe. It's not a big problem. We took out their nuclear sites and we'll have to take out Pickaxe. If we don't make a deal, we don't make a deal. We'll take it out very easily."

Netanyahu was reported to be bringing intelligence to the meeting on Iran's expanding activity at the site. Trump responded: "I don't need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved." He also criticised the Israeli prime minister for making the matter public: "I heard Bibi announced that. I said, why don't you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?"

It is the two leaders' first meeting since their joint campaign against Iran began five months ago, and it comes during a pause in strikes between the United States and Iran. The course of these talks is a decisive variable for Iran's domestic markets: over recent weeks the free market dollar, gold and the Tehran Stock Exchange index have responded to diplomatic news more than to any other factor. On Sahmino's price board at 17:28 on Tuesday, 6 Mordad, Brent crude stood at $87.10, down 0.65 percent.