The Pickaxe facility, located near the Natanz enrichment complex, is believed to be buried deeper than Fordow and was not attacked during the 12-day war or the current round of fighting.
July 17, 2026 / Israel Hayom)
The United States will attack the Iranian nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain, located near the Natanz enrichment complex in the central Isfahan Province, President Donald Trump said on Monday. “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. It is one of the most mysterious sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have never been allowed inside, and the facility is believed to be so deep, and protected by such dense rock, that it could be even more difficult to strike from the air than Fordow.
Pickaxe Mountain, known in Persian as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, is located about 0.9 miles south of the Natanz Nuclear Facility. The compound covers roughly one square kilometer (0.4 square miles) of mountainside in the Zagros range. Iran has built a security fence several kilometers long around the mountain, connecting it to the perimeter fence surrounding the Natanz enrichment complex. Two paved access roads climb the mountain toward an area containing two tunnel entrances. The mountain itself, which is considerably taller than the one above Fordow, rises 1,608 meters (5,276 feet) above sea level.
Hewitt asked Trump whether he would insist that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors be allowed into Pickaxe Mountain’s deep tunnels before a new agreement with Iran was signed, to ensure that no “doomsday machine” was being concealed there. “Absolutely,” Trump replied. “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.”
The president later added, “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.” Trump’s claim that the U.S. was not seeing any activity at the site appears to contradict a report published recently by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. (Read More)
