President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the United States will attack the Iranian nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain, located near the Natanz enrichment complex in central Isfahan Province. "We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to get ready. Tell them we're coming, and there's nothing they can do about it," Trump said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt.
The facility is among the most secretive sites tied to Iran's nuclear program. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have never been permitted inside, and it is believed to be deeply buried and heavily protected by rock, potentially making it harder to strike from the air than the Fordow facility.
Known in Persian as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, Pickaxe Mountain sits approximately 0.9 miles south of the Natanz Nuclear Facility, covering roughly one square kilometer on the Zagros range. A security fence several kilometers long connects the mountain to the Natanz perimeter. Two paved roads ascend toward two tunnel entrances, with the mountain itself reaching 1,608 meters above sea level - considerably higher than the one above Fordow.
During the interview, Hewitt asked Trump whether he would require IAEA inspectors to access the facility's deep tunnels before any new agreement with Iran was signed. Trump responded: "Absolutely. They don't have it, because we have eyes, with Space Force and everything else. We have a lot of eyes on it. But Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice, big, fat shot right in the front door. I think you may see that. I'm telling them that right now."
Trump later stated: "We're watching it very closely, and we don't see any activity there. They're not in good shape with their nuclear situation. Every time we hear about something, we blow it up. That's why they don't like talking about it. But we're probably going to give the mountain a shot relatively soon."
However, Trump's assertion contradicts a recent report from the Institute for Science and International Security, which analyzed satellite imagery from late June. The institute identified vehicles and trucks traveling along roads to the facility's western entrances, indicating that "work inside the tunnel complex, as well as reinforcement of the tunnel entrance, is continuing." The institute said this activity violated the June 17 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. And Iran, which requires Tehran to maintain the status quo of its nuclear program and bans construction at nuclear sites.
Construction at Pickaxe Mountain began following a sabotage operation on July 2, 2020, when an advanced centrifuge production plant at Natanz exploded. Ali Akbar Salehi, then head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told parliament's National Security Committee that Tehran had decided to build a new centrifuge assembly hall "in the heart of the mountain near Natanz," Adding that "work has already begun."
According to a 2022 assessment by the Institute for Science and International Security, the underground halls are located between 78 and 145 meters below the mountain's summit. Later estimates placed the facility at approximately 100 meters deep, though some assessments suggested greater depth. By comparison, Fordow's enrichment halls are buried 80 to 90 meters below its mountain.
The West possesses detailed knowledge of Fordow's internal structure from plans obtained by Mossad from Iran's nuclear archive in 2018. Far less public information exists about Pickaxe Mountain. IAEA inspectors have never been allowed access, and agency Director General Rafael Grossi has previously acknowledged that Tehran rejected his inquiries about the site.