Why Trump Is Targeting Iran's 'Pickaxe Mountain'

A mysterious underground complex near the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran has attracted global attention after US President Donald Trump suggested the site as a potential military target, while claiming there may be uranium enrichment equipment there. ‘We will likely strike that area soon. There is nothing they can do to stop it,’ Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. Iran has threatened to expand the war if the US attacks its nuclear facilities. Tehran has released almost no information about the subterranean complex, known in Farsi as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La or Pickaxe Mountain. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have never been permitted entry, and most information comes from satellite imagery and intelligence assessments rather than direct observation. Although the site has appeared repeatedly in reports over recent years, its purpose remains unclear, making it one of the most closely watched locations related to Iran’s nuclear activities. The complex is located south of Tehran in Isfahan province, excavated inside a mountain approximately two kilometres from the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, one of Iran’s most critical nuclear facilities. Commercial satellite imagery, including images published by Maxar Technologies, shows continuous construction activity since 2020, revealing new tunnel entrances, access roads, security installations, and large spoil piles. Construction appeared to accelerate after an explosion damaged Iran’s advanced centrifuge assembly workshop at Natanz in July 2020, which Iranian authorities described as an act of sabotage. Months later, Tehran announced plans to build a new underground facility where advanced centrifuge equipment could be assembled in a more secure location. Officials stated the replacement site would be larger, more advanced, and better protected than the damaged workshop. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security estimates that parts of the facility may be buried 80 to 100 metres beneath the mountain. If accurate, the complex would be deeper than many known Iranian nuclear sites and significantly harder to damage through airstrikes. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has repeatedly stated that the agency’s inspectors have never been granted access to the site. Without inspections, the agency cannot verify whether nuclear materials, centrifuges, or other sensitive equipment are present. In June 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli intelligence had assessed Iran may have moved thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges or other sensitive equipment to the complex in the months following a 12-day US and Israeli bombing campaign in June 2025. Responding to questions about the report, Trump said on Tuesday that Iran ‘may have’ moved centrifuges to Pickaxe Mountain, but ‘we have no record of it.’ Some analysts believe the complex could ultimately support the production or assembly of advanced centrifuges if Iran decides to restore or expand its nuclear capabilities. Iran has consistently argued that underground facilities are necessary to protect its nuclear infrastructure from sabotage and military strikes. Tehran maintains its enrichment activities are for peaceful purposes and denies any effort to produce weapons. International inspectors and intelligence reports confirm that Iran possesses approximately 440 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, far above the level required for civilian use and close to the 90 percent needed for weapons production. Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told DW that the strategic importance of Pickaxe Mountain lies in its resistance to bunker-buster bombs and its proximity to the Natanz nuclear complex. Nadimi argued that reported damage to Iran’s Fordo facility and parts of Natanz and Isfahan after the June 2025 bombing campaign has made the underground complex more significant than ever. He suggested that, given Iran’s security considerations, future enrichment activities, including those related to weapons, could eventually be concentrated in a single highly protected location, with Pickaxe Mountain being the most logical candidate. Whether bunker-buster bombs used by the US military could destroy a complex buried inside Pickaxe Mountain remains a subject of debate among military experts. The exact layout of the tunnels, their depth, and the location of critical infrastructure within have never been publicly disclosed. Unlike Natanz or Fordo, where key facilities have been identified over years, assessing damage to a target located inside a mountain is extremely difficult. Some analysts argue that if the site were targeted, the objective might not be total destruction of the entire complex, but rather collapsing tunnel entrances and damaging access routes.