Report: Iran Transferred Nuclear Centrifuges to Pickaxe Mountain

The President has been talking about Pickaxe mountain since at least last week, threatening to bomb the site. Our allies have given us additional reason to be concerned: Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside a mountain last fall, Israeli and U.S. officials say, a development that would heighten concerns that Tehran could reconstitute its nuclear program. Israel passed along the intelligence findings to the U.S., saying the centrifuges were transferred to the Pickaxe Mountain site last fall after the 12-day war in June when American and Israeli strikes pummeled Iran’s three main nuclear sites (Wall Street Journal).

Trump announces the US military will be striking Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility, where Iran stores the nuclear centrifuges that were moved from other sites. “Normally I wouldn’t say that…we’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, very heavily, and there’s not a thing they can do about it.”

It will no doubt be difficult to destroy the underground facilities, but that was true of Fordow as well. If the Iranians have vents visible, Pickaxe will have the same vulnerabilities. If not, the entrances to the facility are certainly targetable. Also, even if the facility itself is somehow impregnable to aerial attack, its ground lines of communication are not. Sustained attacks on roads, energy production, and rail facilities to and around Pickaxe will eventually make the redoubt unusable except as shelter. Centrifuges do not spin themselves, after all (Hot Air).

President Donald Trump says Pickaxe Mountain is next.

“We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready.”

Pickaxe Mountain is Iran’s deepest and most heavily fortified suspected nuclear facility, buried roughly 80-100 meters beneath granite near… pic.twitter.com/5vb3gfoN3j

— The Iran Watcher (@TheIranWatcher) July 21, 2026

Trump yesterday on Pickaxe mountain: “We’ll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon. There’s not a thing they can do about it. You know, normally I wouldn’t say that. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that. But we’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” Trump said (Axios).