Satellite images show construction surge at Iran’s Pickaxe nuclear site amid US war
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Satellite images show construction surge at Iran’s Pickaxe nuclear site amid US war")
The underground facility was “likely” designed as a safe haven for Iran’s nuclear programme. Photograph: (X)
The Pickaxe Mountain site has been the subject of sustained attention from intelligence agencies, which view it as a likely location for protecting future Iranian nuclear programme activities. The underground facility was “likely” designed as a safe haven for Iran’s nuclear programme.
A suspected Iranian nuclear site beneath a granite mountain near the Natanz nuclear complex, about 140 miles south of Tehran, has been witnessing an increase in construction activity, as per satellite imagery analysis reviewed by CNN. The Pickaxe Mountain site has been the subject of sustained attention from intelligence agencies, which view it as a likely location for protecting future Iranian nuclear programme activities.
The developments around Pickaxe Mountain come as fighting between the US and Iran has intensified again after a month of relative calm.
The analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), after reviewing six years of satellite imagery, shared exclusively with CNN ahead of its publication, found “a clear surge in construction activity” at the site in 2026.
The CSIS analysts said the underground facility was “likely” designed as a safe haven for Iran’s nuclear programme.
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‘Facility not yet capable of enrichment work’
As per the CSIS analysis, construction at Pickaxe Mountain has progressed from active excavation to probable internal construction and continued reinforcement of the site’s exterior.
The work has included raising and hardening tunnel portal accesses, paving the internal road network, reinforcing areas around the accesses and flattening and removing dirt excavated during tunnel construction.
The CSIS analysts added that the “continuous construction” observed at the site, among other factors, suggested it was “not yet capable of enrichment work, if that is the intended purpose”.
The facility is probably designed for one of three purposes, according to the analysis. It could serve as a centrifuge assembly facility, an enrichment facility or a safe haven for other ‘relevant’ activities such as uranium metal conversion.
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Israeli intelligence has suggested that Iran may be seeking to move centrifuges to Pickaxe Mountain as part of uranium enrichment efforts.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike the heavily fortified site
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike the heavily fortified site.
“We may hit Pickaxe very soon,” Trump told reporters last week.
Trump also said the US could “hit” Pickaxe Mountain if it detected activity there. The US military maintains operational plans for strikes against Pickaxe Mountain, reported CNN, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The site was part of a target package considered this summer when Trump was threatening to escalate the conflict with Iran. The strike plan involved the use of some of the largest bombs in the US arsenal, the source said, though there were doubts whether those weapons could penetrate deep enough underground to destroy whatever Iran may have moved there.
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The granite mountain presents a difficult target even for the Pentagon’s “heaviest non-nuclear” bombs, according to the CSIS team.
US working on ways to target deeply buried underground facilities
The US has been working on ways to target deeply buried underground facilities. Four days before the US launched Operation Epic Fury, a programme manager at the Defence Threat Reduction Agency signed an emergency $1.2 million contract justification to repair a “unique subterranean test facility at White Sands Missile Range” in New Mexico.
The contract was for a “live-fire test designed to validate classified capabilities against rapidly emerging threats”.
Sources familiar with the matter said the plans involved developing a way to target Iran’s deepest-buried underground facilities, likely including simulations of US strikes against specific nuclear sites.
New penetrator weapon under development
The US had previously struck Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 during Operation Midnight Hammer.
However, Pentagon believed its Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, bunker-busting bombs could not destroy the facility.
The US military is now working on a “next generation penetrator” bomb intended to reach targets buried even deeper underground.
