High-resolution satellite imagery of Iran's largest and most crucial remaining nuclear facility shows a recent rush to protect it from potential American or Israeli aerial attack, according to the Institute for Science & International Security (ISIS). Satellite imagery from February 10 appears to show that Tehran has taken advantage of delays in any such attack since the December 28 protests started to better defend the facility.
The facility in question is a large tunnel complex at Kolang-Gaz La Mountain, aka Pickaxe Mountain, a mountain near the series of Natanz nuclear facilities, which were the center of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program until the Israel-Iran War of June 2025. Most of the other Natanz facilities, including the existing centrifuges at the time, were destroyed in June 2025, but for reasons that have not been fully explained to date, this facility was not struck. Construction started at the site by 2021, and the ISISthink tank and The Jerusalem Post revealed its existence to the public in early 2022.
According to the think tank, the relatively new enormous underground facility is still not thought to be operational, one of the reasons it may not have been struck previously, but there are concerns that it could be used to enrich uranium or even for some kind of clandestine rush to a small nuclear weapon at some point if not dealt with. Certainly, since June 2025, it has received extra attention and emphasis from Iran as its singularly most important undamaged facility for potential nuclear program use. (Read More)
