Trump threatens to bomb Iran's Pickaxe Mountain site amid fresh satellite images
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb a suspected underground nuclear site in Iran known as Pickaxe Mountain. Recent satellite images appear to show construction work at the location, which sits immediately south of the Natanz nuclear complex. The site has become the focus of renewed attention because it is one of the few Iranian nuclear-linked locations that has not already been struck by the United States or Israel.
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Trump told reporters on 21 July that the US would be hitting the area "pretty soon" and "very heavily". He returned to the subject on 28 July, saying: "I know exactly what's going on at Pickaxe. It's not a big problem - we took out their nuclear sites, and we'll have to take out Pickaxe if we don't make a deal." Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, rejected the claims on 22 July and said that "no nuclear activity is taking place" at Pickaxe Mountain.
He described the threats as "a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage". The site, also known by its Persian name Kuh-e Kolang, is believed to be buried deep inside the mountain. Its exact purpose remains unclear, but it has been linked in public discussion to Iran's nuclear programme and to speculation that some of the country's stock of highly enriched uranium could be stored there.
Centrifuges, which are needed to produce enriched uranium, can be used for civilian nuclear fuel production but also for weapons-related enrichment if pushed to much higher levels. The reported construction activity and the site's underground design have added to concern about what may be happening there. Pickaxe Mountain matters because it sits in the shadow of Natanz, Iran's largest uranium enrichment facility.
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Natanz has already been bombed by both the US and Israel in 2025 and 2026, making the area a central point in the wider confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran has previously suggested that a new mountain facility could replace a building inside the Natanz complex that was damaged after a suspected sabotage operation in July 2020. That history has helped turn Pickaxe Mountain into a symbol of both Iran's efforts to protect sensitive nuclear infrastructure and the pressure it faces from foreign military threats.
The site has also drawn attention because of the uncertainty surrounding its role. Publicly available information remains limited, and the claims about stored uranium have not been proven. Experts and analysts have therefore relied heavily on satellite imagery and open-source material to assess the scale of the construction and the possible purpose of the tunnels.
The presence of four tunnel entrances, together with a perimeter fence that appears to have expanded over time, has fuelled speculation but not settled the question of what the facility is for. Iranian officials have sought to push back against that speculation. Baghaei's denial on 22 July was part of a broader effort by Tehran to reject the idea that the site is being used for nuclear work.
The dispute also reflects the wider standoff between Iran and the US over enrichment, inspections and the future of the country's nuclear capabilities. In that context, even unconfirmed reports of construction can carry diplomatic and military significance. The issue is likely to remain sensitive because Trump has tied the threat of force to the possibility of a deal.
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His comments suggest that Pickaxe Mountain is being treated not only as a suspected site, but also as leverage in a broader negotiation over Iran's nuclear programme. For now, the main unknowns are the site's exact purpose, whether the reported construction is connected to nuclear activity, and whether the US president's threats amount to a real operational warning or a negotiating tactic. What happens next will depend on whether there is any further official confirmation, new imagery, or a shift in the diplomatic track.
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