Inside Iran’s ‘Pickaxe Mountain’: The Secret Bunker That’s Now in Trump’s Crosshairs

When you hear the name "Pickaxe Mountain" you might picture a rugged peak in the Iranian highlands, but the reality is far more clandestine. Known locally as Kūh‑e Kolang, the mountain sits about a mile (1.5 km) south of the famous Natanz uranium enrichment plant in Isfahan province. It isn’t a tourist destination; it’s a hard‑rock bunker, hewn deep into granite, that Tehran hopes will keep its most sensitive nuclear work out of reach.

The story starts in late 2020. After a series of sabotage explosions rattled the above‑ground Natanz centrifuge assembly line, Iranian engineers rolled up their sleeves and began digging. The goal was simple: create a subterranean complex that could survive anything from conventional air strikes to a possible underground shockwave. By the spring of 2023 the tunnel network stretched more than 300 feet beneath solid rock – deeper than even the infamous Fordow facility.

Official Iranian statements insist the site is purely for “technical work” – testing, maintenance and perhaps research that would be too risky to conduct on the surface. Western and Israeli intelligence, however, are far less convinced. Reports suggest the cavernous halls could be used to stash enriched uranium or even run clandestine enrichment machines away from the prying eyes of IAEA inspectors.

So why is Pickaxe Mountain suddenly making headlines? On September 4, 2026, President Donald Trump told reporters from the Oval Office that the United States was watching the site “very closely” and could hit it "very soon" if Tehran’s activity turned hostile. "We’re leading in space. We know everybody that’s moving at Pickaxe, we know everybody that’s moving everywhere, all over Iran, and if anything goes bad, we hit them. We hit them hard," Trump declared, hinting that satellite surveillance and the U.S. Space Force were already tracking movements inside the mountain.

It’s worth noting that Pickaxe Mountain has never been directly struck. The air‑campaigns of mid‑2025 and early 2026 focused on Natanz’s above‑ground facilities and a handful of known sites. Intelligence at the time indicated Pickaxe was still under construction, which likely spared it from the bombs that rained down on other parts of the complex.

That doesn’t mean the bunker is invulnerable. Defence analysts argue that even the 30,000‑pound GBU‑57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) – the world’s biggest conventional bunker‑buster – might struggle to collapse tunnels that deep. Still, a strike could damage access shafts, surface ventilation or power lines, effectively crippling the underground operations without ever touching the core chambers.

Iran’s own military officials have warned that any attack on Pickaxe would trigger a severe retaliatory response. They describe the site as “one of the most heavily fortified positions in the country’s defence network,” suggesting that an assault would not be taken lightly.

What does all this mean for the broader non‑proliferation picture? If Tehran is indeed moving centrifuges or uranium stockpiles into the mountain, it could be a game‑changer – a hidden reserve that complicates verification and makes any diplomatic pressure harder to enforce. On the flip side, the U.S. threat signals a willingness to consider pre‑emptive action, raising the stakes for both sides.

For now, Pickaxe Mountain remains a shadowy piece of the Iranian nuclear puzzle. Whether it will stay underground or become a target of the next wave of strikes is a question that will likely be answered in the coming weeks, as diplomatic channels churn and satellite eyes continue to scan the granite peaks of central Iran.