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Iran has moved thousands of centrifuges into Pickaxe Mountain site – report

Israeli intelligence says Iran has moved thousands of uranium centrifuges into deeply buried mountain complex.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli intelligence agencies believe Iran transferred thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into a heavily fortified tunnel complex near Natanz following last year’s war, according to a report published Monday by the Wall Street Journal.

The assessment, which Israel has shared with the United States, centers on Mount Kolang Gaz La, commonly called Pickaxe Mountain, roughly two kilometers south of Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex.

Israeli and American officials cited in the report said the centrifuges were moved into the mountain during the fall of 2025, after Israeli and US strikes caused extensive damage to Iran’s principal enrichment and centrifuge-production sites during the 12-day war that June.

The intelligence does not establish that Iran is currently enriching uranium inside the tunnels. The centrifuges could have been placed there for storage, protection or future installation. However, Israeli officials reportedly fear the equipment could allow Tehran to secretly restore part of its enrichment program in a facility that would be extremely difficult to destroy from the air.

An Israeli military official familiar with the campaign said the previous attacks had not dealt sufficiently with all facilities connected to Iran’s potential nuclear-weapons program, adding that “there is more work to do.”

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The report comes one week after President Donald Trump publicly threatened to attack Pickaxe Mountain.

“We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on July 13.

During the same interview, Trump said the site was being closely watched and claimed the United States had not detected activity there. He nevertheless said Pickaxe Mountain was on a list of possible targets and could be struck “relatively soon.”

Construction at Pickaxe Mountain began after an explosion destroyed an above-ground centrifuge assembly facility at Natanz in July 2020. Iran blamed the incident on sabotage and announced that the damaged plant would be replaced by a larger and more secure complex inside the nearby mountain.

Ali Akbar Salehi, then the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said in September 2020 that Iran was building a larger hall deep inside the mountain for the production of advanced centrifuges.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi later described the development as part of Iran’s “systematic intention to put their most sensitive facilities underground.”

Satellite imagery indicates that the site consists of two sets of tunnel entrances leading into a large underground complex. Estimates place portions of the facility between approximately 90 and 137 meters beneath solid rock, potentially deeper than the Fordow enrichment plant struck by the United States in 2025.

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The depth presents a major challenge even for the most powerful American bunker-busting weapons. Analysts have suggested that an attack might instead target entrances, ventilation systems and power connections, or involve sabotage or a ground operation.

Recent satellite images reviewed by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security showed continued construction, reinforced entrances, additional security infrastructure and vehicle movements around the complex.

The institute reported in June that Pickaxe Mountain did not appear ready to operate and was not believed to contain enriched uranium. A later assessment said construction was continuing and that the western tunnel entrances remained open.

David Albright, president of the institute, told the Wall Street Journal that the reported transfer of centrifuges into the tunnels was plausible. The size of the complex, analysts say, would permit several possible nuclear-related uses, including centrifuge assembly, equipment storage or a smaller clandestine enrichment plant.