President Donald Trump reportedly said the U.S. is prepared to hit Iran “very hard” tonight and tomorrow as tensions escalate over the Strait of Hormuz, naming Pickaxe Mountain as a possible target for a “nice big fat shot.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Freedom 250 Grand Prix Showcase at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 13, 2026.
President Trump said the U.S. is prepared to hit Iran “very hard” tonight and tomorrow, saying the country’s Pickaxe Mountain site is a “possible target for a nice big fat shot.”
“Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right in the front door,” Trump said in an interview with Salem News Channel’s Hugh Hewitt.
"We're going to hit them very hard tonight and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow and there's not a damn thing they can do about it," Trump added. "They have nothing going other than they have big mouths... I got to know them, and they're stone cold crazy people."
Posted by Sophia Compton
CENTCOM launches third straight night of strikes on Iran at Trump’s direction
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it began launching a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran at 4:45 p.m. ET Monday at President Donald Trump’s direction.
"These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," CENTCOM wrote on X.
Renewed conflict continues to be potentially breaking out over Yemen, as on Monday Saudi Arabia struck the runway of the Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport, amid growing allegations that Iranian flights have increasingly made use of Yemen’s airspace.
The Saud-backed Yemeni government which has long been locked in a civil war for the country’s future has singled out the Houthi rebels for hosting Iranian flights, warning that its “patience has run out” and that it will respond to any airspace violations.
“The Yemeni legitimate government, in cooperation with the regional and international community, and by all diplomatic and legal means, has tried to convince the Iranian regime and the Houthi coup militias in Sana’a to return to the armed forces and not to penetrate the Yemeni airspace with the Iranian planes,” an official statement said.
Residents of the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa have reported seeing warplanes flying overhead, after Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah channel indicated the strikes targeted the airport’s landing and takeoff runways.
“In an unjust aggression, the Saudi enemy carried out several airstrikes against Sanaa International Airport,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree responded. “The Saudi aggression against Sanaa airport has ended the phase of de-escalation, and it must bear the consequences of its aggression,” he added.
Another senior Houthi official, Hazem al-Assad, also threatened in follow-up remarks: “The Saudi regime will discover that it has dug its own grave.”
The Iranian plane in question reportedly hasn’t been hit or damaged, and was safely diverted to Yemen’s Hodeidah International Airport.
The “internationally recognized” Yemeni government has long been propped up by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the US, after a lengthy half-decade long UAE/Saudi/US coalition air war failed to dislodge Houthi power. The pro-Saudi government operates out of Aden in southern Yemen, after the country’s president fled there a decade ago.
Earlier this month there was another attempted Saudi warplane intercept of an Iranian civilian airliner, which was reportedly carrying Yemenis who had been stranded in Iran back to their home country.
The Houthis at the time of the prior incident said it was “breaking the Saudi-American siege on our people and expelling the occupiers.”
As we featured previously, since 2015 Saudi Arabia has imposed a blockade on Yemen’s land, sea, and air ports, severely restricting vital commercial and humanitarian imports, including fuel and food.
The blockade triggered what the UN called one of the most severe humanitarian crises globally, leading millions towards famine and drastically damaging healthcare and water systems.
The Houthis continue to be an important side-player related to the US-Iran war, given they’ve continually threatened to block the key Bab el Mandab Strait and return the war to the Red Sea region.
In a poetic and heartwarming gesture, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has officially nominated Darline Graham Nordone as interim U.S. Senator.
Darline is the younger sister of late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
She will now serve the remainder of her brother’s term in the Senate, until South Carolina voters decide in this year’s midterm elections who will fill the seat for the next six years.
Watch the moment Darline accepted the role here:
Whatever your opinion is of Lindsey Graham’s political career, you have to admit that this is an incredibly touching moment.
He and his sister shared a special bond throughout their whole lives.
If you don’t know, Lindsey Graham actually adopted Darline when she was just 12 years old, after their parents sadly passed away.
Earlier today, President Trump threw his support behind the idea of appointing Darline to fill her late brother’s shoes.
Graham died on Saturday night at age 71. He never married or had a family of his own, but Nordone was often by her brother’s side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads.
After their parents died at a young age, Graham was left to raise his sister, for whom he later became legal guardian. They were very close, and she was there as he filed reelection paperwork earlier this year, along with her children and grandchildren.
“To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words,” Nordone said, emotion rising in her voice. “But I’m going to do this. I got it.”
Introducing Nordone, McMaster said the two had spoken in “in the wee hours of Sunday morning” after Graham’s death, and he asked her to serve.
“I had wondered what you would say, and I was humbled by your quickness to see the duty that you had to serve,” McMaster said. He added that President Donald Trump “thought it was a great idea” when he later told him of his pick. Trump announced his support for Nardone to fill the seat earlier Monday.
Next month, a special election will be held to decide on a Republican nominee to run for the open Senate seat.
At this time, it remains unclear whether or not Darline Graham Nordone plans on running for a full term.
Others were in the mix initially, including Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, who Trump endorsed in her failed bid to clinch the GOP nomination for governor, former Rep. Trey Gowdy and former Sen. Jim DeMint, sources told Fox News Digital.
Her appointment fills the seat through Jan. 3, while voters decide in November who will hold the seat for the next six-year term.
At this point, it’s unclear if Nordone would consider running for a full six-year term, and there’s already private jockeying to run in the special election, set for Aug. 11, to secure the GOP nomination in the Palmetto State, with Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., both eyeing a bid
Graham’s death narrowed Republicans’ Senate majority and added pressure to keep every GOP vote available, especially with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., still being treated after a fall and pneumonia.
The stories coming out of Iran nowadays are tricky, not always believable, and often peppered with more than the usual amount of propaganda.
That’s why when one report is interesting, we try to approach it with the proper care.
For some characters of this war, the stories come in a series of bombastic and mutually excluding revelations: new Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is gay; he was killed in an airstrike; or rather, he was disfigured and maimed in an airstrike; or rather, he is alive and well and leading the country.
For former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the same is valid. Back in March, it was reported that he would have been killed in the first wave of Israeli airstrikes against Tehran.
And today, alternatively, a NYT report has arisen that the former president has been placed under house arrest by the country’s infamous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The reason for his arrest is reportedly that Ahmadinejad was part of a ‘failed Israeli plot’ to install him in place of the current theocratic regime.
“The New York Times, citing four Iranian officials, reported Monday that the 69-year-old is being held by the IRGC’s intelligence wing after he left a safe house run by Israel’s Mossad.
Before last week, Ahmadinejad had not been seen in public since an Israeli airstrike hit his compound in the early hours of Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, after which he was spirited away to the safe house, the Times reported, citing US and Iranian officials.
The former president, who ran Iran with an iron fist from 2005 to 2013, re-emerged last week — apparently flanked by security guards — during funeral ceremonies for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the same day as the strike on Ahmadinejad’s compound.”
“The Israeli campaign, which culminated in a strike on Ahmadinejad’s bodyguards to free him from house arrest on the first day of the US-Israel attack on Iran in February, included a meeting with Mossad chief David Barnea on the sidelines of an academic conference in Hungary.
A car secreted the former president away to a safe house after that attack, but he later left the safe house after growing disillusioned with Israel’s plan to install him, The Times reports.
Ahmadinejad’s current status is unclear, according to the report. He was seen briefly surrounded by guards — masked and wearing a heavy coat — at the funeral for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and is believed to be in IRGC custody over his ties with Israeli intelligence.”
