Arabic version: تجدد تهديد ترامب لجبل بيكاكس يثير تساؤلات نووية
According to Al Jazeera, United States President Donald Trump said Washington may strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain “very soon”, renewing threats against the heavily fortified underground site near the bombed Natanz enrichment complex. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said the US knows “everybody that’s moving at Pickaxe” and across Iran.
The comments followed a similar mid-July threat, when Trump said on the Hugh Hewitt Show that the US would “take out Pickaxe Mountain”. Hours after his latest remarks, an Iranian oil tanker off Kharg Island was struck by four US missiles, Iranian outlet Khabar Fouri reported. Kharg Island is Iran’s main oil-export hub, handling about 90 percent of exports.
Known in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, Pickaxe Mountain lies about 220km south of Tehran in Isfahan province and 2km from Natanz. US intelligence reports indicate the facility has been excavated beneath hundreds of metres of granite, with main chambers thought to be at least 100 metres underground. The Institute for Science and International Security has assessed that the site remains under construction and is not operational.
The mountain has largely escaped both the June 2025 US strikes on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan and the current conflict. Analysts view its tunnels as a possible location for Iran to rebuild component production, assembly or uranium enrichment after damage to other facilities. Iran says it is not undertaking work at Natanz and maintains its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Uncertainty persists over Iran’s nuclear material and the scale of war damage. The International Atomic Energy Agency verified about 10 tonnes of enriched uranium before the 2025 attacks, including about 440kg enriched to 60 percent. Iran suspended cooperation with the agency after the strikes, and the IAEA says it cannot report on the stockpile’s size, location or composition. Tehran has dismissed Washington’s focus on Pickaxe Mountain as a manufactured pretext for an attack.
