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A new analysis of satellite imagery of Pickaxe Mountain, the heavily fortified underground nuclear facility near Natanz, has found the most intense construction activity ever recorded at the Iranian facility, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The activity is another sign that Iran is determined to complete and protect its nuclear program against further strikes, analysts said.
Researchers analyzed multisource imagery of the five sites within the complex, as well as the connecting roads, between 2020 and mid-2026. “We see a three-phase process of construction that starts with the digging of a big hole and ends with a very hard exterior and likely a lot of interior activity as well,” said the CSIS researcher.
The facility is located on Pickaxe Mountain, which is approximately two kilometers south of the Natanz nuclear complex in Iran’s Isfahan Province. The site consists of a deeply buried tunnel system that has been associated with Iran’s nuclear program. The exact function of the Pickaxe Mountain facility remains classified, but numerous Western intelligence agencies have described the location as potential storage for enriched uranium as well as possible research and development for nuclear warheads that Iran intends to keep beyond the reach of U.S. and Israeli bunker-buster munitions.
New images of the site at Pickaxe Mountain provided by Vantor to the analysts behind this report, taken in late June 2026, show earthmoving and the construction of new infrastructure around the perimeter of the site. Iran has swiftly dismissed the new report from the CSIS as “baseless” in a series of statements from various officials.
Reports that the US and Israel have been planning to attack the newly revealed underground complex come as American and Israeli military strategists have been conducting a number of simulations, including recent tests at White Sands, New Mexico, of penetrating bombs that can travel through the earth to deep underground targets like Pickaxe Mountain.
As Iran continues to bury its nuclear facilities at increasing depths, it is wagering its long-term survival on its ability to dig a hole big enough and deep enough before it is destroyed by a rival. Whether America’s most advanced bunker-busters are up to the task of penetrating the most heavily fortified nuclear facility on earth remains to be seen.
