Does US fear Iran's deep nuclear facility, the Pickaxe Mountain?

United States and Israel's coordinated attack on Iran had one aim: cripple Tehran's nuclear programme and reduce it to rubble.

Six weeks later when both Iran and United States arrived in Islamabad to chalk out a plan for peace and free the world from the crude limbo it now finds itself in, one of the main points of contention between the two was Iran's nuclear prowess.

It was one of the main reasons talks faltered in Pakistan and the fragile ceasefire which was declared by both grows more precarious with each passing second.

Though US has largely dented the nuclear programme, one suspected nuclear site remains untouched.

Colloquially known as the Pickaxe Mountain, the site lies so deep that it beyond the reach of America’s most powerful bunker-buster bombs.

Though many experts believe that the site is not complete yet. It could , in their opinion, give Iran enough arsenal that could produce the next nuclear weapon, which could pose as a threat to America

About Pickaxe Mountain

Locally known as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, satellite images revealed that Iran had advanced construction at the site soon after US forces disabled the country’s three main nuclear facilities in June.

The photos, first analysed by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based think tank, show tunnel entrances being strengthened at Mount Kolang Gaz La.

In April, when Trump addressed the nation, he cited the resumption of activity in Iran as reason to launch a war.

After the three sites were hit, he said, Iran’s leaders “sought to rebuild their nuclear program at a totally different location, making clear they had no intention of abandoning their pursuit of nuclear weapons.”

Analysts said Trump was referring to Pickaxe Mountain.

More fortified than Fordo

In June 2025, US launched Operation Midnight Hammer and targeted Iran’s mountainside uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.

United States say they struck with 30,000-pound bombs known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators designed specifically for that mission.

“Pickaxe Mountain is deeper and bigger and more fortified than Fordo,” said Blaise Misztal, the vice president for policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, or JINSA, a Washington research organization. “That may be a place where they are planning to sprint to weapons-grade enrichment.”

Does US fear Pickaxe Mountain?

Though the construction began in 2020, Iran has claimed they are building a facility that  would house a plant to build centrifuges, which spin uranium at high speeds to greater levels of purity. However, till this date, they haven't granted the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the facility, affirming suspicion among experts that Iran may actually intend to use it for the more advanced step of enriching uranium to military-grade purity suitable for nuclear bombs.

Some fear that Iran may already have stashed some of its stockpile of 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium at Pickaxe Mountain.

The facility is in the heart of Iran. Any US assault would expose slow-moving aircraft like helicopters and transport planes to ground fire as they flew deep into the country.