Analysts Say Iran Surges Construction at Pickaxe Mountain Nuclear Site Near Natanz

Analysts examining six years of satellite imagery say a suspected Iranian nuclear site buried under granite at Pickaxe Mountain is seeing “a clear surge in construction activity” this year, with work shifting from active excavation toward probable internal construction and continued exterior reinforcement.

“there has been “a clear surge in construction activity” this year”

CNN

The site, known as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, is described as an underground complex about two kilometers south of Natanz and roughly 225 kilometers south of Tehran, and CSIS says the 2026 activity includes raising and hardening tunnel entrances, paving internal roads, reinforcing access areas and removing excavated soil.

CNN

CNN reports that the Pickaxe Mountain site is located near the Natanz nuclear complex roughly 140 miles south of Tehran and that CSIS analysts shared with CNN say the underground facility is “likely” designed as a safe haven for Iran’s nuclear program.C

The analysis also says the evidence can neither confirm nor disprove Israeli intelligence claims that Iran moved centrifuges or centrifuge components into the complex, while CSIS analysts add that the underground facility is “not yet capable of enrichment work,” if enrichment is the intended purpose.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Pickaxe Mountain, telling reporters “We may hit Pickaxe very soon,” and adding “we know everybody that’s moving” at the site.

CNN says the granite mountain presents a difficult target even for the Pentagon’s “heaviest non-nuclear” bombs, and that the US military maintains operational plans for strikes against Pickaxe Mountain as part of a target package considered earlier this summer.C

CSIS

The reporting ties US efforts to strike deep underground to a Defense Threat Reduction Agency emergency $1.2 million contract justification for a “unique subterranean test facility at White Sands Missile Range” in New Mexico, uploaded to a federal database on February 27.

CNN also reports that the contract was for a “live-fire test designed to validate classified capabilities against rapidly emerging threats,” and that three sources told CNN the plans were connected to the Iran war and efforts to develop a way to target Iran’s deepest-buried underground facilities.C

CSIS outlines three possible purposes for Pickaxe Mountain: a centrifuge assembly facility, a uranium enrichment plant, or a protected location for other nuclear-related work including uranium metal conversion, while also saying publicly available evidence was insufficient to determine what Iran intended to place inside the complex.

“The IAEA has requested information about Pickaxe Mountain and access to the site”

Iran International

The CSIS report described by Iran International says the IAEA has requested information about Pickaxe Mountain and access to the site, but Iran has not responded, and it adds that the complex would be extremely difficult to destroy using conventional weapons because it is buried deep inside a granite mountain.I

In a separate account, the CSIS analysis shared with CNN says it can neither refute nor substantiate the Israeli intelligence claim that Iran moved centrifuges into Pickaxe Mountain, and it concludes that military strikes might delay work but would not offer a sustainable solution without a verifiable diplomatic agreement.C

The reporting also says Iran began building the facility in 2020 after an aboveground centrifuge assembly workshop at Natanz was damaged in suspected Israeli sabotage, and it quotes Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi saying a replacement centrifuge assembly facility would be built underground near Natanz.