US President Donald Trump has named a mysterious Iranian site called Pickaxe Mountain, near the Natanz nuclear facility, as a potential target for US forces, although it is not entirely clear what exactly is there, DPA reported, BTA reported.
"Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice, solid strike right at the front door", he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt late yesterday. Trump later added: "We're going to destroy Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to get ready".
The US president predicted that the attack would take place "relatively soon".
The complex is located in the mountain Kuh-e Kolang, south of the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran, which was attacked by US bombers last year. The English translation of the name is Pickaxe Mountain.
Little is known about the facility, whose construction began after an explosion and fire in July 2020 severely damaged the above-ground assembly halls for advanced centrifuges at Natanz. Tehran described the incident as sabotage at the time.
The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, later confirmed that construction of an underground replacement facility had begun.
Although the enrichment facilities at Natanz have been under international supervision for years, IAEA inspectors have not yet entered the facilities at Pickaxe Mountain.
More than a year after the explosion, former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said: "Today we were able to build a temporary replacement workshop on the site of the one that was blown up. We are working day and night to build all our assembly workshops in the mountains around Natanz."
Satellite images published by US media show tunnel entrances and security facilities around the site. The complex may have originally been intended for centrifuge assembly, but there are suggestions that it could also be used for uranium enrichment.
Analysis of satellite images suggests that parts of the facility may be located 80-100 meters underground. If so, this would make it difficult to destroy with bunker-busting bombs.