A hidden fortress under construction in Iran — known as “Pickaxe Mountain” — may potentially be housing any uranium stockpiles that Tehran managed to smuggle out before the US bombed its nuclear sites.
The deeply buried installation, which is just minutes from the Natanz nuclear facility — one of the three sites struck over the weekend — has been quietly reinforced in recent years.
Multiple reports have suggested that Pickaxe could be the perfect hiding place for uranium — as speculation mounted that Iran may have been able to remove its cache before the attacks unfolded over the weekend.
Open-source satellite images taken Thursday and Friday showed lines of cargo-style trucks outside Fordow, arousing suspicion that the theocratic regime could have moved its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Almost 900 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity has been unaccounted for since the Israeli airstrikes began on June 13.
Meanwhile, Iran has been cagey about the Pickaxe Mountain site after satellite imagery emerged earlier this year showing a new deeply buried tunnel and security perimeter close to the existing Natanz site.
The director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency asked Tehran in April about what was going on there — but got a blunt response.
“Since it is obvious it is in a place where numerous and important activities related to the program are taking place, we’re asking them, what is this for? They are telling us, it’s none of your business,” Rafael Grossi, the director general, said at the time.
He added that it “cannot be excluded” that the tunnels would store undeclared material, but said he didn’t want to speculate on intentions.
“I’ve been raising this issue repeatedly, and I will continue to do so,” Grossi said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Pickaxe suffered any damage during the latest strikes that targeted Natanz, as well as the Fordow and Isfahan nuclear facilities.
President Trump, for his part, has insisted Iran wouldn’t have been able to remove any uranium being enriched at the sites before the attacks.
“They didn’t have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast,” Trump said Wednesday.
“It would have taken two weeks, maybe. But it’s very hard to remove that kind of material, very hard and very dangerous for them to remove it.”
Trump also has insisted his attacks “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, and the White House has dismissed a leaked preliminary intelligence assessment suggesting Tehran could salvage it within months.
