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Israeli intelligence agencies believe that Iran moved thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside Pickaxe Mountain in the autumn of last year. This claim has been made in a report by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoting Israeli and American officials. According to the report, this step has increased the fear that Iran may be preparing to restart its nuclear program.

The report says that Israel has shared this intelligence information with America. Israel claims that the centrifuges were transported to this highly secure location after the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict in June. During this conflict, America and Israel attacked three major nuclear sites of Iran.

According to the report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is continuously appealing to US President Donald Trump to intensify military action against Iran. They believe that by doing so, Tehran’s nuclear program and its reconstruction efforts can be further weakened.

What did Trump say on Pickaxe Mountain?

In the last 10 days, America has intensified its attacks on Iran. During this time, President Donald Trump for the first time publicly described Pickaxe Mountain as a possible military target in the future. In an interview with conservative broadcaster Hugh Hewitt on July 13, Trump said that Pickaxe Mountain was a “potential target for a large and strong attack”.

He said, “We will attack Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready for this.” Trump also said that America is constantly keeping an eye on this area. He said, “We are keeping a close watch on Pickaxe Mountain. We don’t see any significant activity there. Their nuclear program is not in good shape. Whenever we come to know about it, we destroy it. That’s why they don’t like to talk much about it. But it is possible that we may soon take action on Pickaxe as well.”

What is Pickaxe Mountain?

• Pickaxe Mountain, also known as Mount Kolang in Iran, is located near Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility. It is a highly secured underground complex, which consists of a network of two deep tunnels.
• Experts believe that this base is so strong that even America’s most powerful bunker-buster bomb cannot destroy it completely. America and Israel have been monitoring this base for many years.
• Although Pickaxe Mountain was not an important target during the Israel-Iran conflict in previous years and it was not attacked in the recent conflict, but continuous activities have been seen here for the last 15 months.
• Pickaxe Mountain is located about 220 kilometers south of Iran’s capital Tehran and about 2 kilometers from the Natanz nuclear complex. This mountain is about 1,600 meters high above sea level.
• According to ISIS, construction of this underground facility beneath Pickaxe Mountain began in 2020. In the same year, Iran claimed that the explosion at the Natanz nuclear center was due to sabotage, which caused extensive damage and slowed down the development of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.
• After this, in September 2020, Iran’s then nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi had said that a more modern, larger and advanced in every respect underground hall was being built inside the mountain near Natanz, where state-of-the-art centrifuges would be built.

Is Iran building a nuclear program again?

According to the Institute for Science and International Security, activities like movement of trucks, strengthening of tunnels and expansion of security infrastructure have been seen in this complex. According to the report, work is also going on around an old tunnel built in 2007, which was later closed by Iran.

Officials and experts have long feared that Iran could use the tunnels to store, manufacture, or store nuclear devices or to set up a small-scale uranium enrichment facility to produce weaponized nuclear material.

What did Israeli army officers say?

An Israeli military official who has been involved in the targeting process said the recent airstrikes did not cause substantial damage to Iran’s nuclear weapons program. According to him, in future more action may be required at other locations including Pickaxe Mountain.

What are centrifuges?

Centrifuges are machines that are used to separate uranium gas into its different isotopes by rotating them at high speed. Uranium is enriched through this process. This enriched uranium can be used in civil nuclear energy programs as well as in making nuclear weapons.

IAEA not getting access to pickaxe?

Iran has been continuously saying that its aim is not to make nuclear weapons. However, it has produced about 1,000 pounds (about 454 kilograms) of uranium enriched to 60 percent, which is considered close to weapons-grade levels. According to the report, after the attacks in June 2025, Iran may have shifted the remaining centrifuge machines to an underground complex, so that they could be protected from future attacks. However, some additional machines may also be present at other nuclear centers of Iran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that Iran has not allowed its inspectors access to Pickaxe Mountain and has not shared any information about the activities going on there.