Pickaxe Mountain (Kūh-e Kolang Gaz Lā) in Iran is a mountain in the Zagros range just south of a nuclear complex at Natanz. It houses a heavily fortified tunnel facility associated with Iran’s nuclear program, but the exact use of that facility is not publicly known. It is suspected to include some of Iran’s most sensitive nuclear facilities or assets, potentially including stockpiles of enriched uranium and centrifuges that are not yet operational. Throughout the 2026 Iran war the United States has repeatedly threatened to attack the tunnels to prevent the possibility of Iran using the facility to build nuclear weapons. The mountain rises about 5,250 feet (1600 meters) above sea level and the underground facility is estimated to be located more than 300 feet (100 meters) beneath the mountain surface. Its depth and the mountain’s geology make it unlikely that a foreign military could completely destroy the facility in a single set of strikes without first identifying and exploiting structural vulnerabilities.
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