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Last UpdateOctober 16, 2026, 9:45 PM EDT

President Donald Trump has confirmed that the United States is evaluating Iran’s heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain nuclear complex as a potential target for future military action, stating, “We may have to go there… We’ll knock it out fast” in a Thursday interview. Trump ruled out the use of nuclear weapons or the deployment of U.S. ground troops, but left the door open for conventional air strikes. The comments follow recent reports that the Pentagon has drawn up options involving massive conventional ordnance against Iranian infrastructure, even as Trump expressed optimism that ongoing back-and-forth tensions and negotiations could bring a swift end to the conflict.

WHAT TO KNOW

• President Donald Trump ruled out using nuclear weapons in Iran, but floated the possibility of using a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, also known as a MOAB, against the Islamic Republic.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck a Singapore-flagged civilian vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, leading to the ship’s sinking, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) reported Thursday.
• Iran has carried out at least 135 precision strikes on 84 different infrastructure sites across the Persian Gulf since February, according to a new Reuters investigation.
• The U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions targeting Iran on Thursday, levying sanctions against an Iraqi bank which Treasury accused of helping funnel U.S. dollars to Iran.
• Yemen’s army claims to have killed 700 Houthi militants in Yemen during Thursday operations that also destroyed 150 military vehicles.

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Iranian Army spokesperson says Strait of Hormuz will reopen ‘if America leaves the region’

An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman’s Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on Oct. 2, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said Friday that “if America leaves the region, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and collective security will be established with the participation of the region’s countries, and the global economy will improve.

“If it doesn’t leave, we’ll expel it,” he added in a post on X.

Akraminia also was quoted by Iran’s Mehr News Agency as saying that “Despite Trump’s repeated allegations, Iran’s current air defense capabilities far surpass pre-war and wartime levels.”

Trump declared that Iran is no longer “the bully of the Middle East” as he touted U.S. military strikes against Tehran during a midterm campaign rally in Montana on Wednesday.

“They don’t have a Navy; they don’t have an air force; their army is decimated; their leaders are gone,” Trump said. “I should have probably left the leaders because I don’t know who we’re negotiating with. They had their first-string leaders are all gone. Their second-string leaders are all gone. Half of their third-string leaders are gone. And now their main thing that they ask in negotiation is, ‘Will you please allow us to live?’

“This is all they do. They don’t want us to go after them.”

Fox News Digital’s Eric Mack contributed to this post.

Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond

Spain’s prime minister says Iran war has cost Europeans more than $100B

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference at a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels, Belgium, October 16, 2026. (REUTERS/Yves Herman)

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Friday that the war in Iran has cost Europeans more than 100 billion euros, or roughly $112 billion.

Sánchez made the remarks during a news conference following a European Council summit in Brussels.

In a post on X, Sánchez also said “those of us who raised our voices against the war were right when we said NO to war.”

“Iran’s war has already cost us Europeans more than 100 billion euros,” he said. “We knew that the bill would end up being paid by ordinary people.”

He added that the Spanish government had approved more than 12 billion euros in economic relief measures “to protect citizens and the affected sectors.”

“Now, it’s time to put an end to this disaster,” Sánchez said.

Posted by Michael Sinkewicz

Hezbollah demands return of 1,000 pounds of explosives seized by Lebanon: report

Hezbollah worked to build facilities below private residential buildings and houses in southern Lebanon. (Getty Images)

The Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah has requested that Lebanese security authorities return more than 1,000 pounds of explosives seized by the government last week, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Lebanese authorities previously intercepted a truck carrying weapons and detained two people inside, according to the report.

Hezbollah later confirmed that it owned the truck and its cargo.

Officials told The Journal that the vehicle was carrying C-4 plastic explosives and TNT as it traveled from Hezbollah’s Bekaa Valley stronghold toward the Beirut area.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Lebanese President Joseph Aoun not to return the explosives to Hezbollah, a State Department official told Reuters.

Posted by Michael Sinkewicz

Saudi-led forces strike missile launchers in northwestern Yemen

Members of Yemen’s Houthis (Getty Images)

The Saudi-led coalition said Friday that it destroyed two ballistic missile launchers in northwestern Yemen, according to Reuters.

A coalition spokesperson said in a statement that video showed weapons being transported by sea, unloaded along Yemen’s coast and moved in military vehicles, as well as strikes targeting vehicles carrying the weapons.

The weapons were being transported to Yemen’s Hodeidah governorate, the spokesperson said.

The coalition also alleged that a smuggling network used organized crime groups to deliver weapons to Iran-backed Houthi rebels, with some shipments transported to Yemeni islands.

Posted by Michael Sinkewicz