- US President Trump threatened to bomb Iran's under-construction nuclear site at Pickaxe Mountain
- Pickaxe Mountain lies 2 km from Natanz and is heavily protected with underground facilities
- Construction began in 2020 after sabotage damaged the Natanz nuclear enrichment site
US President Donald Trump has once again threatened to bomb an under-construction Iranian nuclear site at the Pickaxe Mountain as the two nations continue to bomb each other's assets over the Strait of Hormuz. The site, also known as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, is buried deep under a mountain on the south side of Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment site, which was attacked by the United States during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in 2025.
At the time, Pickaxe Mountain had remained untouched.
Talking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump acknowledged the possibility that Iran may have moved centrifuges there, potentially at a depth that would challenge even the most powerful bombs in America's arsenal.
"We'll be hitting that area ... probably pretty soon. And there's not a thing they can do about it," he said.
The warning came even as it remains unclear just what has been placed at Pickaxe Mountain, as the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has never gained access to the site.
About Pickaxe Mountain
Pickaxe Mountain is located 220 km (140 miles) south of Tehran and 2 km (1.2 miles) from the Natanz nuclear complex. The peak rises to some 1,600 metres above sea level.
Protected by anti-aircraft batteries, fencing and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the facility sprawls across 2.7 square kilometres (1 square mile) in the country's arid Central Plateau. It has multiple entrances visible from satellite images, which, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), are assumed to lead to one facility estimated to be at least 100 metres under the mountain.
Construction of the facility at Pickaxe Mountain began in 2020, according to ISIS, following what Iranian authorities reported at the time as an explosion caused by an act of sabotage at the Natanz facility.
Iran said at the time the Natanz sabotage had 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 all dimensions in the heart of the mountain near Natanz" for making advanced centrifuges.
Nuke Concerns
Rafael Grossi, the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, in an interview with PBS Frontline in March, noted that Iran had previously announced its intention to have nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain.
"This was part of their quite systematic intention to put their most sensitive facilities underground," he said.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the size of the construction project indicates Iran will likely be able to use the underground facility to enrich uranium as well as to build centrifuges.
Centrifuges, tube-shaped devices arranged in large cascades of dozens of machines, rapidly spin uranium gas to enrich it. Additional cascades spinning would allow Iran to quickly enrich uranium under the mountain's protection.
Can The US Destroy The Site
Such underground facilities led the US to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plough through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military.
US officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Pickaxe Mountain.
