Lesser known 'Pickaxe Mountain' may have survived US and Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear sites

A uranium enrichment site under construction, known as “Pickaxe Mountain,” may have survived strikes by the U.S. and Israel.

Neither the U.S. nor Iran have said the site was damaged in their public statements.

“The facility, just south of the Natanz nuclear facility and buried roughly 330 feet below the mountain itself, was particularly concerning to experts due to its depth, which is between 30 to 70 feet deeper than Fordow,” The Jewish Insider reported. “This is said to exceed the striking depth of the most powerful bunker-busting weapons in the U.S. arsenal.”

After the attack, Iran only confirmed that strikes had been conducted against Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.

The Jewish Insider reported that “Iran has not acknowledged the site’s development or construction and it has retained a lower public profile, with the Institute for Science and International Security first discovering its existence in 2023.”

The U.S. has not said that the site was destroyed.

In a report for the NY Post, Mark Dubowitz and Ben Cohen said the site may have survived the strikes.

“It’s not clear how much damage that facility – said to be immune from the MOPs (Massive Ordnance Penetrators) dropped on Fordow – sustained in Saturday’s strikes,” the report said. “If it survived, Pickaxe Mountain could allow Iran to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program.”

Officials within the Trump administration have repeatedly stated, however, that the strikes conducted by the U.S. and Israel have successfully destroyed Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities.