President Donald Trump has identified Iran's underground facility known as Pickaxe Mountain as a potential target, amid intelligence suggesting the site may be developing into an underground nuclear facility. The commander-in-chief stated Tuesday that the site would be targeted "pretty soon." This warning follows a report from The Wall Street Journal, citing Israeli intelligence, that nuclear centrifuges have been observed at the secretive fortress for the first time since its construction began in 2020.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran Program, suggested that the administration likely awaited evidence of fission material at the site to justify an attack as a countermeasure against Iran's proliferation efforts. He described Pickaxe Mountain as "the big target left standing," referencing previous U.S. strikes on three other Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities. The full extent of activity at the facility, reportedly buried at least 328 feet under Kolang Mountain and located near the Natanz nuclear facility, remains unclear.
While no previous indication of nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain had been noted, experts have expressed concerns about Iran's intentions. David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security, wrote on X that the site is potentially large enough to house a centrifuge enrichment plant and activities related to nuclear weaponization, such as producing weapon-grade uranium metal and shaping it into nuclear weapon components. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has denied these allegations, calling the focus on the site a "fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage."
Despite the stated concerns, striking Pickaxe Mountain presents considerable difficulties, according to experts. James Acton, co-lead of the Carnegie Endowment’s nuclear policy work, stated that previous bunker-buster bombs used against other Iranian nuclear sites, such as Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan, would be ineffective against Pickaxe Mountain due to its depth. The GBU-57 bomb, capable of penetrating up to 200 feet underground, falls short of the estimated depth of the facility.
"The US does not have strong enough penetrators for Pickaxe Mountain," Acton wrote on X. He also noted that the site lacks the vulnerabilities, such as exposed ventilators and air shafts, that were exploited in previous strikes on other Iranian nuclear facilities. Taleblu suggested that the U.S. could attempt to attack the base's entrances and bury it, a tactic previously used against Iran's missile facilities. However, he cautioned that Iran has demonstrated the ability to excavate such buried bases.
Albright indicated that while direct evidence of current enrichment activities at the site is lacking, the introduction of centrifuges signals Iran's eventual intent to pursue such activities. He concluded that "The US and Israel need to shut down the entire site, whether through diplomacy or strikes."