President Donald Trump is threatening to strike Iran\u2019s deeply buried Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility \u2014 a site the United States previously left untouched while bombing the country\u2019s other major nuclear sites, raising new questions about what may have changed.
\nEstimated to lie beneath at least 100 meters of rock near Iran\u2019s damaged Natanz nuclear enrichment complex, Pickaxe was designed to replace an above-ground plant capable of assembling roughly 6,000 advanced centrifuges each year before it was destroyed in 2020.
\nIran said the replacement would be larger, more modern and built \u201cin the heart of the mountain.\u201d Analysts believe the tunnels could eventually hold a centrifuge assembly line, an enrichment plant or equipment used in certain nuclear weaponization activities.<\/p>\n
I\u2019VE STUDIED MILITARY STRATEGY. TRUMP NOW FACES IRAN\u2019S OLDEST BATTLEFIELD TRICK
\nYet the administration has not said whether it has confirmed that centrifuges were moved inside \u2014 or why a site left untouched during earlier attacks now warrants a strike. Military experts also disagree over whether airstrikes could destroy Pickaxe\u2019s interior or merely seal its entrances temporarily.
\nThe same depth that could protect Iran\u2019s nuclear infrastructure may place Pickaxe\u2019s main chambers beyond the reliable destructive reach of America\u2019s most powerful conventional bunker-busting weapon. Bombing its exposed entrances could deny Iran access without destroying the facility or anything stored inside.
\nTrump said Tuesday that the United States would probably strike the area \u201cpretty soon\u201d and \u201cvery heavily.\u201d
\nTRUMP THREATENS \u2018MAJOR MILITARY PUNISHMENT\u2019 FOR IRAN OVER FUTURE HOUTHI ATTACKS
\nHis warning came after The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of centrifuges into Pickaxe last fall. Trump said the transfer \u201cmay have\u201d occurred but added that the United States did not have it \u201con record.\u201d
\n\u201cMaybe this one they have right,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut it\u2019s okay. It doesn\u2019t mean anything unless they have the material.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe follow the material,\u201d he added.
\nTRUMP SEEKS $672M TO STOP IRANIAN NUKES AS NEGOTIATORS WEIGH FATE OF URANIUM STOCKPILE
\nBy \u201cthe material,\u201d Trump was referring to Iran\u2019s enriched uranium, including uranium gas that centrifuges can further enrich to weapons-grade levels.
\nBefore the June 2025 attacks, the International Atomic Energy Agency had verified that Iran possessed 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, enough, if further enriched, for approximately 10 nuclear weapons under the agency\u2019s standard measurement.
\nMost of the stockpile was believed to have been held at Isfahan, with additional material at Natanz and Fordow. Inspectors have since been unable to verify its amount, condition or present location.
\nThe Institute for Science and International Security assesses that the material remains trapped at those three sites and does not believe enriched uranium has entered Pickaxe.
\nThe administration has not said whether the United States independently corroborated the reported Israeli assessment, whether centrifuges are being stored or installed inside Pickaxe or whether nuclear material has entered the facility.
\nStoring centrifuges would not make Pickaxe an operational enrichment plant. The machines would have to be installed in connected cascades, linked to electrical, ventilation and piping systems and fed uranium gas.
\nSatellite imagery shows continued construction but no indication that Pickaxe is operational, according to the Washington-based institute. Images from February showed Iran adding concrete, rock and reinforced structures over tunnel portals in an apparent effort to harden them against airstrikes.
\nAnalysts also observed smaller closed-roof vehicles near the entrances that could indicate Iran was outfitting the interior. The imagery could not establish what the vehicles carried.
\nSpencer Faragasso, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security, said earlier U.S. and Israeli attacks prioritized Iran\u2019s operating enrichment program. Based on what was understood about Pickaxe at the time, he said, there was \u201cnothing of priority\u201d inside that warranted expending valuable deep-penetrating weapons.
\n\u201cThe facility is still under construction, and it\u2019s unlikely that a centrifuge plant is operating inside there,\u201d Faragasso told Fox News Digital.
\nBut Faragasso said centrifuges could have entered aboard covered trucks without being detected in commercial imagery, making the reported Israeli intelligence plausible but impossible for outside analysts to confirm.
\nThe reported transfer could help explain Trump\u2019s recent focus on Pickaxe, he said. The facility is also one of the last nuclear-related sites of its size that has not been struck.
\nTrump did not publicly name Pickaxe during the opening months of Operation Epic Fury. It entered his public rhetoric July 13, when conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt raised the facility during an interview.
\nTrump said American surveillance had detected no activity there but called Pickaxe a possible target for a \u201cnice big fat shot right into the front door.\u201d
\nAt the end of the interview, Hewitt urged Trump to \u201cgo get Pickaxe Mountain.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cTell the Iranians to be ready.\u201d
\nThe White House could not be reached for comment for this story.
\nThe administration has not explained whether the recent threats reflect new intelligence, an effort to deter Iran from activating the facility or a shift from destroying existing enrichment capacity to preventing Iran from rebuilding.
\nWhether the United States could destroy Pickaxe from the air remains disputed.
\nNicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po and nonresident scholar in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace\u2019s Nuclear Policy Program, said it would be \u201cvery close to impossible\u201d to destroy the facility through an air campaign like the one the United States carried out against Fordow.<\/p>\n
Pickaxe is deeper and more heavily fortified, she said, and does not have a publicly confirmed structural weakness comparable to those exploited there.
\nRetired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding, a former B-2 operations commander, said planners would first determine whether the mission required destroying Pickaxe\u2019s interior or merely preventing Iran from using it.
\n\u201cYou assess what the goals are, and then you assess the costs associated with making something not fit for use \u2014 or destruction,\u201d Spalding said.
\nIf destroying the facility proved infeasible, he said, the U.S. could instead deny access and prevent Iran from bringing in the personnel and equipment needed to operate it.
\nThe institute has identified two possible ventilation-shaft locations through satellite imagery, including one it considers probable. Without internal schematics, however, analysts cannot confirm their purpose or connection to the main chambers.
\nFaragasso said the shafts could provide weak points for deep-penetrating weapons, although the results of an attack might remain unclear.
\n\u201cThe facility is not invulnerable,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are options.\u201d
\n\u201cAt the minimum, the tunnel entrances can be collapsed,\u201d Faragasso added, saying a strike could also send damaging shock waves into the facility.
\nGrajewski said collapsing the portals would prevent Iran from moving personnel or equipment in or out without first undertaking an excavation visible to American and Israeli surveillance. Any effort to reopen Pickaxe could trigger another strike.
\nBut Iran has previously excavated entrances to missile tunnels after they were attacked, meaning keeping Pickaxe closed could require continued surveillance and repeated military action.
\nGrajewski said a strike could provide the U.S. with a \u201csymbolic win\u201d against one of Iran\u2019s most prominent remaining nuclear-related facilities but would not eliminate the broader program.
\n\u201cIt is a very high-value facility,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not the entirety of the Iranian nuclear program.\u201d<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on https:\/\/www.foxnews.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"