President Donald Trump has repeatedly issued threats to bomb an under-construction Iranian nuclear site buried deep under a mountain as the two nations exchange blows over the Strait of Hormuz.
Pickaxe Mountain
The site, known as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, or “Pickaxe Mountain,” lies on the south side of Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site, which was bombed by the United States during Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025’s 12-day war between Iran and Israel.
It remains unclear just what has been placed at Pickaxe Mountain, as the United Nations‘ nuclear watchdog has never gained access to the site. But Trump on Tuesday talking with journalists in the Oval Office acknowledged the possibility Iran may have moved centrifuges there, potentially at a depth that would challenge even the most-powerful bombs in America’s arsenal.
Trump said, “We’ll be hitting that area … probably pretty soon. And there’s not a thing they can do about it.”
Iran’s Nuclear Program
The new project at Pickaxe Mountain is being constructed next to Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran, Iran’s capital. Natanz, a mix of above- and underground facilities, has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.
Repeating sabotage attacks on Natanz, including one likely carried out by Israel that destroyed a manufacturing site for centrifuges, led Iranian officials to start work on the Pickaxe Mountain site.
Protected by anti-aircraft batteries, fencing and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the facility sprawls across 1 square mile in the country’s arid Central Plateau. It has multiple entrances visible from satellite images.
In 2023, an Associated Press story on Pickaxe Mountain included analysis from experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies that suggested Iran is likely building a facility at a depth of between 260 and 328 feet. Digging has continued at the site in the time since, with some experts suggesting it could be even deeper underground.
Experts say 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.
US Response
Such underground facilities led the U.S. to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military. U.S. 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.
Original reporting: NBC4 Los Angeles — read the source article.
