Irans Pickaxe Mountain is in Trumps sights but attacking it is difficult, experts warn

Iran’s hidden fortress known as Pickaxe Mountain has become a prime target for President Trump amid concerns the regime is building it into an underground nuclear site — but attacking the mysterious facility will be extremely difficult, experts say.The commander in chief warned Tuesday that Pickaxe Mountain would be targeted “pretty soon”, after the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Israeli intelligence, that nuclear centrifuges were spotted arriving at the secretive fortress for the first time since its construction began in 2020.The alarming report likely gives the administration the push it needed to target the site buried deep under a mountain after leaving it alone during the current conflict and last year’s war, said Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran Program.“The administration was likely waiting for fission material to appear at the site to make it clear that an attack is a counter against Iran’s proliferation efforts,” Taleblu told The Post.“This is the big target left standing and shows that the job is unfinished,” he added, referencing the US attacks on Iran’s three other nuclear enrichment facilities.

The full activity at the facility, buried at least 328 feet under the Kolang Mountain, has remained a mystery, but its location near the Natanz nuclear facility has raised alarms throughout the years.While there had previously never been any indication of nuclear activity at the site, which Trump previously referenced as his reason for leaving it alone in past attacks, experts have warned that Iran cannot be trusted.

“Pickaxe Mountain is large enough to also hold a centrifuge enrichment plant and likely large enough to also hold certain nuclear weaponization activities such as making weapon-grade uranium metal and shaping it into nuclear weapon components,” David Albright, a nuclear weapons expert and founder of the US-based non-profit Institute for Science and Internationa...