Donald Trump Threatens Heavy Strikes on Iranian Pickaxe Mountain

President Donald Trump threatened to launch heavy military attacks against Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified underground facility in Iran's Isfahan province. Located near the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, the site is estimated to be 80 to 100 meters beneath the mountain. Trump stated the U.S. would be hitting the area soon, suggesting Iran may have moved uranium-enrichment centrifuges to the site, though he noted the U.S. does not have this on record.

Intelligence and expert assessments of the facility vary. The Institute for Science and International Security analyzed satellite imagery and assessed the site as not yet operational, though it could support a nuclear weapons program. Military experts have debated whether U.S. bunker-buster bombs can penetrate the facility's extreme depth or if strikes would be limited to disabling tunnel entrances and access routes.

The Government of Iran has denied nuclear activity at the site and maintains its enrichment program is for peaceful purposes. Iranian officials threatened to expand the war if nuclear facilities are targeted. Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stated that agency inspectors have never been granted access to the Pickaxe Mountain site.