New satellite imagery shows Iran has added new defenses around tunnel entrances at Pickaxe Mountain, the deeply buried nuclear-linked site President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike, as Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-drafted Security Council resolution aimed at preserving international monitoring of sanctions on Tehran. The Institute for Science and International Security said in a report released Thursday that satellite imagery from Sept. 11 shows earthen roadblocks remain in place on roads leading to Pickaxe Mountain’s western tunnel portals near the Natanz nuclear complex. The institute said the continued restricted access reinforces its assessment that the facility is not currently being used for normal operations, while assessing that valuable equipment or materials remain inside.
The report also identified additional soil placed over one western tunnel portal and over a nearby cluster of entrances first built in 2007. The institute said the added soil increases the amount of earth protecting the entrances and helps harden them against aerial bombardment. EXPERTS ‘DEEPLY’ CONCERNED OVER IRAN’S WORK AT UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR SITE The findings come one week after Trump issued his latest warning over Pickaxe Mountain.
"We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe," Trump told reporters last week. "I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard." Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of attacking the site. In a July 28 "Fox & Friends" interview highlighted by the White House, Trump said the U.S. was watching Pickaxe closely and knew "exactly what’s going on," adding that Washington could "take out Pickaxe" if diplomacy failed.
Pickaxe Mountain lies roughly two kilometers from Natanz and features multiple tunnel entrances leading into a deeply buried underground complex. Construction began in 2020 following sabotage that damaged an advanced centrifuge assembly facility at Natanz, and Iranian officials subsequently said a replacement underground facility was being built for advanced centrifuge production. Analysts estimate portions of the facility may be buried at least 100 meters beneath the mountain.
Iran has said there is no nuclear activity at the site. TRUMP SAYS US HAS 'MASSIVE' MUNITIONS STOCKPILE, VOWS 'TREASONOUS' LEAKERS BEING HUNTED DOWN Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that some analysts believe the opportunity for a straightforward strike on Pickaxe Mountain may already have passed. "The window to strike Pickaxe Mountain, according to some, has already expired because the regime has dug an underground nuclear facility several times deeper than Fordow," Ben Taleblu said.
But he argued that Washington retains military options even if destroying the underground complex itself proves difficult. "Washington can do what it’s traditionally been able to do with sites that are underground, hardened and fortified, and that’s to bury their entrances and raise the political cost to the Islamic Republic of being able to dig out," he said. "While there may not be the perfect munition just yet, Uncle Sam always has a bigger bomb," Ben Taleblu added.
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