Key Takeaways:
- Pickaxe Mountain, buried at least 100 meters deep, is Iran’s most fortified nuclear site, making it deeper than anything the U.S. has struck so far.
- Construction at Pickaxe Mountain has continued, despite a June 17 MOU stating that the status quo on the nuclear program had to be maintained.
- With 1,000 pounds of uranium already enriched to 60%, the Iranian regime is becoming close to weapons-grade, increasing the likelihood of U.S. action in the near future.
During the joint Israel-U.S. operations against the Iranian regime in June 2025 and again in March 2026, many of the targets were the regime’s nuclear sites. Neither conflagrations saw Pickaxe Mountain being struck, and the nuclear site that is perhaps the most hardened.
Fordow, likely the most well-known Iranian nuclear site, was hit in a preemptive June 2025 strike with 30,000-pound bombs known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators, designed to penetrate targets buried deep underground. In March 2026, several other targets, including the Natanz nuclear facility, Isfahan nuclear site, and Minzadehei nuclear weapons development compound, among others, were hit either directly or through compounds adjacent to the buildings.
Still, other nuclear facilities, as well as the ones previously hit but not destroyed, remain a persistent threat to regional and global security. Pickaxe Mountain, located near the Natanz nuclear facility, is perhaps the most challenging, as it is reportedly buried at least 100 meters underground – far deeper and more fortified than Iran’s other nuclear sites.
Western intelligence has warned that the Iranian regime would use the site to construct an undeclared uranium enrichment facility. For the past year and a half, construction at the site has continued, with truck traffic, tunnel reinforcements, and a security perimeter being constructed.
This is despite the June 17 Memorandum of Understanding stating that the “Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program.” The reinforcement of the site and movement of items into Pickaxe is thus a direct violation of the document.
The depth of the site would require a significant military operation – either by using massive ordnance penetrators delivered by B-2 bombers, or a ground operation that destroys the facility from within.
Israel has warned the U.S. that uranium-enrichment centrifuges have been moved from other nuclear facilities into Pickaxe Mountain following the June 2025 war. Some assessments have established that the tunnels in Pickaxe could be used as storage, for building nuclear equipment, or to establish an enrichment facility — which could produce weapon-grade uranium.
For these reasons, U.S. President Trump has signaled that a U.S.-led attack on Pickaxe could be in the near future depending on the Iranian regime’s use of the site. The threat the Iranian regime poses cannot be underestimated. The regime holds 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% — notable because uranium is weapons-grade at 90% enrichment. If part of that stockpile is sitting inside Pickaxe, as intelligence assessments suggest, the timeline for a decision just got shorter, providing all the more reason for the U.S. to strike the site preemptively.
The Iranian regime has spent months quietly advancing its nuclear program, all while insisting it will use the project for peaceful purposes and is honoring the status quo. Yet every movement in and around Pickaxe Mountain says otherwise. If the U.S. decides to attack Pickaxe Mountain, the threat of the Iranian regime’s nuclear program will likely get buried, as has been the case in the past. A strike would only confirm what was already true – the threat was never dormant, only hidden beneath the headlines.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
