Pickaxe Mountain near Natanz Nuclear Facility, Iran — November 14, 2025: 12 — Vantor satellite imagery shows tunnel construction activity and a large pile of loot near Natanz Nuclear Facility on Pickaxe Mountain. Please use: Satellite Imagery (c) 2026 Vantor.
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US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran’s underground nuclear facilities amid a recent escalation in the war between the two countries.
For 11 consecutive nights, U.S. Central Command bombed Iranian targets, including military operations centers, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure, with the aim of weakening its ability to control commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States and Iran signed an interim memorandum of understanding on June 17, calling for a halt to military operations, the restart of Hormuz, and a 60-day grace period to negotiate a permanent agreement with terms that cover Iran’s nuclear program. However, the document left open the future management of the Strait of Hormuz.
President Trump’s comments about Mount Pickaxe have brought renewed attention to one of Iran’s most secure and protected facilities. Here’s what we know:
What does Trump say about Pickaxe Mountain?
Speaking from Washington on Tuesday, the president said the US military would soon target Pickaxe Mountain, a key underground facility adjacent to Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“We’ll probably be in that area soon, but they can’t do anything. Normally we don’t say that. We never say that if we think they can do something, but we’re going to hit that area very quickly and we’re going to hit it very hard,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Iran’s Qatam al-Anbiya military command said in comments reported by the BBC from state broadcaster IRIB that such an attack would be considered an “explosion of war in the region.” They also threatened to attack “all interests of the United States, our allies, and our supporters.”
Construction of the facility, located south of Iran’s Natanz enrichment plant on Mount Tulhasi, or known in Iran as Qe-Koran Ghaz-Ra, began in 2020. At the time, Iran said the underground facility would replace the destroyed centrifuge plant in Natanz, according to the Institute for Science and International Security.
—CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.
