![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #53228](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/iran-nuclear-site-pickaxe-mountain-1024x576.jpg "Iran’s hidden mountain nuclear site raises urgent threat, must be ‘neutralized': reports")
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Iran’s potentially most dangerous nuclear site is buried as deep as 100 meters below a granite mountain, according to new assessments, and one nonproliferation expert warned it must be “neutralized” before theU.S.war with Iranends.
This came as new figures released Wednesday by U.S.Central Command (CENTCOM) show that U.S.and Israeli forces launched Operation Epic Fury in late February and have since struck more than 7,800 targets in Iran as the conflict enters Day 18.
“Before the United States and Israel end major combat operations against Iran, they must complete two urgent tasks,” Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in apolicy briefing.
WHILE UN ISSUES MIXED SIGNALS, WITKOFF EXPOSES IRAN’S NUCLEAR EVASION ‘PRIDE’
Satellite imagery shows reinforcement efforts at the Pickaxe Mountain site.Trump says Tehran is pursuing a nuclear weapon.(Vantor/Handout via Reuters)
“First, they must neutralizePickaxe Mountain.Second, they must recover or eliminate highly enriched uranium stocks to prevent them from falling into the hands of surviving regime elements, other adversarial states or terrorist proxies.”
High-resolution satellite imagery from mid-February shows Iran’s accelerated efforts to reinforce the site at Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, known as “Pickaxe Mountain,” against potential airstrikes, according to theInstitute for Science and International Security.
“At one of the eastern tunnel entrances, rock and soil can be seen pushed back and leveled on top of the tunnel portal,” the institute’sreportsaid.
“Additionally, over the last month, a concrete-reinforced headworks for the tunnel entrance extension was added.This allows for additional overburden in the form of rock, soil or concrete.”
STRIKES MAY SET IRAN BACK — BUT LIKELY WON’T END NUCLEAR PROGRAM, UN WATCHDOG CHIEF SAYS
A satellite image shows an overview of the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex in Natanz.(Vantor/Handout via Reuters)
The report added that “these efforts strengthen the tunnel portals and provide additionalprotection against an airstrike,” noting visible piles of construction materials near the entrances.
Preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon is one of PresidentDonald Trump’s stated war aims.
In June 2025, U.S.forces carried outstrikes against nuclear sites,including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
Iran had roughly 441 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% as of June 2025, enough material, if further enriched to weapons-grade levels, for multiple nuclear weapons, according to theInternational Atomic Energy Agency.
Rafael Grossi, its director general, also said March 9 that the U.N.watchdog believes roughly 200 kilograms of Iran’shighly enriched uranium stockpileare still stored in deep tunnels at a nuclear complex outside Isfahan.
SATELLITE IMAGES REVEAL ACTIVITY AT IRAN NUCLEAR SITES BOMBED BY US, ISRAEL
President Donald Trump confirmed the U.S.launched strikes on Iran Feb.28, 2026. (The White House via X Account/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Grossi added that additional quantities of highly enriched uranium are believed to be at another nuclear center in Natanz, where Iran has constructed a new fortified underground facility at Pickaxe Mountain.
On March 9, Trump pointed to Iran’s efforts to resume nuclear activity at a deeper site and said Tehran has continued pursuing a nuclear weapon “even after weobliterated their key nuclear sites.”
“They were starting work at another site, a different site … that was protected by granite.… They wanted to go a lot deeper, and they started the process,” Trump said, according toreports.
According to Stricker, the “different site” referenced by Trump is Pickaxe Mountain, where Iran has said it has been building a centrifuge assembly plant at the site since 2021.The site is a mile from its Natanz enrichment plant.
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“The size of the facility, as well as the protection provided by the tall mountain, raised immediate concerns about whether additional sensitive activities are planned, such as uranium enrichment,” the Institute for Science and International Security also noted in its report.
At the beginning of March, a vehicle was struck outside the site, presumably by Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported, before suggesting that the vehicle strike was evidence the U.S.and Israel are watching the mountain carefully.
![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #45048](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/iranian-crown-prince-reza-pahlavi-asks-trump-for-humanitarian-intervention-fox-news-001-1024x576.jpg "Exiled crown prince calls on Iranian people to 'finish the job,' cheers Trump's 'humanitarian intervention'")
![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #45230](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/mapxps_world_iran_retaliation_strikes-1024x576.jpg "Gulf states condemn Iranian retaliatory strikes on their territories following US-Israeli operation")
![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #45189](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/mapxps_iran_us_israel_strike_iran_locations_3b-1024x576.png "Israel's largest ever military flyover hammers Iranian military targets")