PICKAXE MOUNTAIN NEAR NATANZ NUCLEAR FACILITY, IRAN — NOVEMBER 14, 2025:12 — Vantor satellite image shows tunnel construction activities and a large spoil pile near the Natanz nuclear complex at Pickaxe Mountain. Please use: Satellite image (c) 2026 Vantor.
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President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran’s underground Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility, inflaming tensions between the United States and Iran.
The president’s comments brought renewed focus to one of Iran’s most secure and protected facilities.
This is the US Central Command bombed Iranian targets for 11 consecutive nights, including at military operations centers, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure, with the aim of weakening the country’s ability to control commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States and Iran signed a interim memorandum of understanding on June 17, which ended military operations, called for the reopening of Hormuz and established a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent agreement, including conditions covering Iran’s nuclear program. But the document leaves the future management of the Strait of Hormuz unresolved.
Here’s what we know about the latest point of tension between the United States and Iran.
What did Trump say about Pickaxe Mountain?Speaking from Washington on Tuesday, the president said the US military would soon target Pickaxe Mountain, a key underground site next to an Iranian nuclear facility.
“We’re very likely going to hit that area very soon, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Normally, I wouldn’t say that; if I thought they could do something, I would never say that, but we’re going to hit that area very soon, and very heavily,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The debate intensified when US President Donald Trump announced that Pickaxe Mountain, believed to house an underground Iranian nuclear facility, would be targeted.
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Trump made similar threats earlier this month on the Hugh Hewitt Show: “We’re Watching [Pickaxe Mountain] closely. We don’t see any activity there. They are not doing well with their nuclear situation. Every time we hear about it, we blow it up. So they don’t like to talk about it. But we’ll probably try Pickaxe relatively soon. »
Following Trump’s earlier comments in early July, David Albright, a nuclear weapons expert and founder of the nonprofit American Institute for Science and International Security, said the mountain is large enough to accommodate a centrifuge enrichment plant as well as nuclear weapons activities.
“Recently, we were told that the site was not attacked in the previous two wars because it did not contain anything valuable enough. Perhaps that assessment has changed,” Albright said on X.
“But it is just as likely that Trump does not want to leave Iran with a deeply buried nuclear site, as the regime appears to be sending a signal that it is beginning to rebuild its nuclear capabilities with the aim of making nuclear weapons.”
If the United States were to carry out such an attack, it would be considered “an outbreak of war in the region,” Iranian military command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in translated remarks reported by state broadcaster IRIB. They added that “all of America’s interests, those of its allies and supporters” would then be the target of a “powerful attack by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
What you need to know about the nuclear installation Located south of Iran’s Natanz enrichment plant, Pickaxe Mountain, or Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La as it is known in Iran, began construction in 2020. At the time, Iran said the underground facility would replace a destroyed centrifuge plant at Natanz, which would have seen 6,000 nuclear centrifuges assembled per year, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
The mountain has a height of 1,608 meters above sea level, while the facility is estimated to be 100 meters deep beneath the mountain, according to ISIS.
Since the United States struck three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025, including Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan, construction at Pickaxe Mountain has accelerated, according to the ministry’s analysis of satellite images. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
CSIS determined that Iran had built security walls around the entire site, with tunnels to the west, east and south.
“It remains unclear exactly when Pickaxe Mountain might be operational, based only on satellite image assessments,” ISIS researchers said in a July 14 memo. “It is also unclear whether Iran is still considering installing a large-scale assembly facility, given the destruction of Iran’s centrifuge program, including Iran’s ability to manufacture the centrifuge components needed for an assembly plant.”
Read more news about the US-Iran war— CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie and Emma Graham contributed to this report.
