The secret underground fortress at the center of the Iran war: Inside 'Pickaxe Mountain'

A hidden underground fortress in Iran known as Pickax Mountain has now taken center stage of the conflict. Following a report that Israeli intelligence believes Tehran moved thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium there this past fall, Trump recently threatened to strike the facility. We'll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon and it's not not a thing they can do about it. The Israeli assessment reported by the Wall Street Journal on July 21st has raised fears that the Islamic Republic could quickly rebuild its nuclear program, though Trump disputed that they have the material required. Iran is believed to have produced close to a thousand pounds of 60% enriched material near weapons-grade levels that is entombed at or near the site 140 miles south of Tehran. The president of the Institute for Science and International Security or ISIS told the Journal that the Israeli assessment was plausible, noting that non-stop activity has continued around Pickax Mountain for 15 months. The complex is somewhere between 300 and 450 feet beneath solid rock, with enough room to accommodate several nuclear-related facilities, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing experts. The deeply buried installation is just over a mile away from the Natanz nuclear facility, one of three nuclear sites hit by U.S. airstrikes in Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025. Construction of the complex at Pickax Mountain began in 2020 with the aim of creating a modern centrifuge assembly facility in the heart of the mountain. According to an assessment by the ISIS, the facility is not yet operational, but construction continues. It's unclear when it could be operational based on the satellite imagery alone, they said. Experts speculate that the underground complex could be beyond the reach of the most powerful bunker-buster bombs in the U.S. arsenal. Instead, the ISIS says the site would be more suitable for ground forces to attack or sabotage. Trump's threats against the site come amid a long stretch of renewed strikes against the Islamic regime, hitting operation centers, military infrastructure, drone facilities, and more.