US President Donald Trump on Saturday named Pickaxe Mountain as an Iranian site that needed to be dealt with, while saying negotiations with Tehran were progressing and leaving open whether diplomacy would produce an agreement.

Speaking to reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said there were still one or two sites to address. His remarks came hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the president had not decided whether to launch fresh military action against Iran.

“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that,” Trump said.

The president described the Iran negotiations as “going fine”, but questioned Tehran’s reliability.

“We’ll see if they make a deal,” he said.

Trump also suggested that dealing with the remaining sites could be accomplished rapidly.

Earlier in Atlanta, Rubio declined to discuss possible military operations or say how long diplomatic efforts would be given to succeed. He said decisions on timing rested with Trump.

“We can achieve military objectives if we seek to. He hasn’t made a decision. I have no announcement in that regard with you today, and nor do we take any of it lightly,” Rubio told reporters at the conclusion of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting.

Rubio said Trump preferred a diplomatic outcome and would already have acted if military force had been his preferred course.

“He’d prefer to solve it diplomatically,” he said.

Asked about Qatari-backed talks, Rubio said contacts with Iran had continued through several channels, including intermediaries and, in some cases, direct conversations. He declined to assess their progress or specify a deadline.

“There are multiple talks; talks have actually never stopped,” he said.

Rubio said Washington remained open to a diplomatic solution, but any arrangement would have to address US security concerns. He identified preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and confronting its support for armed groups across the Middle East as central American objectives.

The secretary also linked the confrontation to commercial shipping, accusing Iran of targeting vessels carrying energy supplies and other cargo. He specifically referred to ships with Indian sailors aboard.

Those allegations were made by Rubio during the press conference. The material reviewed for this report did not include an Iranian response.

Rubio said US forces were defending shipping against drones and missiles and called for wider international participation in protecting passage through the Strait of Hormuz. He described cooperation from other countries as limited and said the burden had fallen primarily on the United States.

The Atlanta meeting formed part of preparations for the G20 leaders’ summit in Florida in December. Its agenda included energy, supply chains, critical minerals, food security and freedom of navigation, reflecting the economic consequences of disruptions to international commerce.

Maritime security was a recurring subject in the discussions. Rubio said interruptions to the movement of energy, fertiliser and agricultural products threatened food supplies, while acknowledging that participants agreed more readily on the problems than on collective solutions.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered that any level and kind of threat from the “enemies” must be met with an “immediate and effective” response without geographical limitations, according to a statement published on the leader’s website on Saturday.

He made the remarks at a meeting with the Iranian armed forces’ senior commanders, including Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Ali Abdollahi, Army’s Chief Commander Amir Hatami, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Ahmad Vahidi, the statement said.

He stressed that if the “enemies” resume military or terrorist attacks against Iran, the Iranian armed forces and people will determine the time and conditions for the war’s end, Xinhua news agency reported. Khamenei also highlighted the necessity to “strengthen the country’s military intelligence architecture, deepen home-grown defence in terms of doctrine and tactics, and advance modern defence and security capabilities using cutting-edge technologies.”

The Supreme Leader emphasised that the country’s bank of targets must be updated in such a way that “various tangible and intangible assets of the US-Israeli enemy are brought within the Iranian armed forces’ reach.”

At the meeting, the senior military commanders presented reports on the armed forces’ state of readiness, and briefed the Supreme Leader on the manifold rise in the country’s production of various types of ammunition, as well as reconnaissance, support and combat weaponry.

The Iranian Supreme Leader’s remarks came amid heightened US threats of military action against Iran.

The United States has told several Gulf countries to prepare for a brief but intense military campaign against Iran after the US midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people briefed on the conversations.

According to the report, the United States and Israel are preparing for another round of intense military operations against Iran.

On February 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases and assets in the region, and tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

In yet another disturbing development raising concerns over the treatment of minorities in Bangladesh, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) has dismissed seven employees, including three Hindu teachers and two other Hindu staff members, over alleged disciplinary violations and other irregularities, local media reported on Friday.

According to KUET Registrar Engineer Anichur Rahman Bhuiyan, the decision was taken at the university’s 115th syndicate meeting.

Those dismissed include Professor Pintu Chandra Shil of the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department, Professor Subrata Talapatra of the Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) department, and Assistant Professor Nibir Mondal of the Energy Science and Engineering (ESE) department.

The other two employees dismissed are Deputy Registrar Nimai Chandra Mistry and office assistant Satyajit Kumar Dutta, leading Bangladeshi daily ‘Dhaka Tribune’ reported.

The development comes amid escalating atrocities on minority communities, particularly Hindus in Bangladesh, a trend that began during the former Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and has persisted under the current Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration.

Earlier this week, a Hindu man was allegedly stabbed to death, while three homes belonging to Hindu families were vandalised and looted in a separate incident in Bangladesh, local media reported.

The deceased Hindu man, identified as 43-year-old Rabendra Rishi, who owned a salon, was allegedly stabbed to death by a man after refusing to provide a haircut on credit in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh district on Tuesday evening.

Citing police information, Bangladeshi Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported that the accused, 26-year-old Saddam, stabbed Rabendra in the chest and neck with a sharp knife, killing him on the spot.

Following the arrest of Saddam, Mohammad Zahidul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bhaluka Model Police Station, said, “The accused is behaving crazy. A five-day remand has been sought for his interrogation. The body has been recovered and handed over to the family after the autopsy.”

In a separate incident, three homes belonging to Hindu families were vandalised and looted in Chak Karimpur village of Pirganj upazila in Rangpur district on Monday night, following a social media post that allegedly offended the religious sentiments of Muslims, local media reported, citing police.

The affected houses belonged to three brothers — Bishu Chandra Mohanta, 50, Jagadish Chandra Mohanta, 60, and Dinesh Chandra Mohanta, 46.

Speaking to ‘The Daily Star’, Bishu said the attackers damaged his television, furniture, walls and doors and stole two goats from his house.

His brothers Jagadish and Dinesh said that their houses were also vandalised, with doors, fences and furniture damaged and televisions and other valuables stolen.

Jagadish’s wife, Arati Rani, said she fled the house to protect herself during the attack. “When the attackers stormed our house, we pleaded with them to stop. But they threatened to kill me,” she said.

Condemning the attack on Hindu families in Rangpur, Bangladesh’s Awami League said that minority communities have faced persistent insecurity in the country since August 2024.

“Allegations of religious insult must never become a license for mob violence, looting, intimidation or collective punishment. Every accused person deserves due process; every victim deserves equal protection under the law,” the party stated.