Located roughly 220 kilometers south of Tehran, the Pickaxe Mountain site sits just two kilometers from the Natanz nuclear complex. Construction began in 2020 following a sabotage incident at the main facility. Iranian officials, including former nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, previously described the project as a modern, fortified hall designed to house advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges deep underground.
Satellite imagery suggests the facility lies at least 100 meters beneath the mountain's peak, protected by anti-aircraft batteries and Revolutionary Guard forces. While the United Nations nuclear watchdog has never gained access to the site, experts believe it is purpose-built to survive conventional bombardment. The United States currently relies on the GBU-57 bunker-buster bomb, designed to penetrate approximately 60 meters of earth. Military planners have explored using multiple strikes in succession to breach deeper targets, yet the sheer depth of this installation creates significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of American ordnance.
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