United States President Donald Trump has threatened to attack a site linked to Iran’s nuclear programme known as Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified facility buried deep underground near one of Tehran’s main nuclear sites.
The threat reflects escalating tensions as Tehran and Washington trade fire in the Gulf, setting back efforts to end the conflict.
Pickaxe Mountain is located 220 kilometres south of Tehran and 2 kilometres from the Natanz nuclear complex. The Natanz site, where two of Iran’s uranium enrichment plants were located, was bombed during the war started by the United States and Israel on February 28, and during last year’s 12-day war.
The tunnel facility under construction at Pickaxe Mountain was not targeted in either of those wars, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based think-tank. The peak rises to some 1,600 metres above sea level.
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There were two enrichment plants in operation at Natanz — one above and one below ground. The UN nuclear watchdog has said the above-ground one was destroyed. The underground one was likely at least badly damaged. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on July 22 that there was no nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain.
Construction of the facility at Pickaxe Mountain began in 2020 following an explosion caused by an act of sabotage at the Natanz facility. Iran said the sabotage caused significant damage that could slow the development of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.
In September that year, Iran’s then-nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran had started building a more modern, larger and more comprehensive hall in the heart of the mountain near Natanz for making advanced centrifuges.
Rafael Grossi, the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, noted that Iran had previously announced its intention to have nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain as part of a systematic plan to put its most sensitive facilities underground.
According to ISIS analysis of satellite imagery, the site features two pairs of entrances leading to one facility estimated to be at least 100 metres under the mountain. Physical defensive measures include a large security perimeter and extensive hardening of tunnel entrances. The eastern tunnel portal entrances have been partially backfilled since the wars to obstruct vehicle access but have not been fully sealed.
Experts assess the deeply buried complex is beyond the reach of the most powerful bunker-buster bombs in the US arsenal. ISIS said the site would be more suitable for ground forces to attack or sabotage, though vulnerabilities may exist that could be exploited by deep earth-penetrating weapons.
Trump said this month that the US was watching the site closely and did not see any activity there. ISIS assessed that the facility was not yet operational, but construction continued and it remained unclear when it could become operational based on satellite imagery alone.
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