Israeli intelligence reportedly informed Washington that thousands of centrifuges had been moved to an underground complex dug into Pickaxe Mountain. The site, never inspected by the IAEA, is considered one of the most sensitive points of the Iranian nuclear program and could become a future military target.
THE’Israeli intelligence believes that Iran has moved thousands of centrifuges intended for uranium enrichment to a vast underground complex inside the so-called Pickaxe Mountainknown in Iran as Mount Kolang. According to Israeli and US sources, this information was shared with Washington and fuel fears that Tehran is trying to rebuild, in a protected way, part of its nuclear infrastructure. As the Wall Street Journal writes, intelligence assessments indicate that the transfer would have taken place last autumn, after the twelve-day war that had seen United States And Israel hit Iran’s three main nuclear facilities. Since then the Israeli government has intensified pressure on the American administration to continue the military campaign against strategic sites of the Islamic Republic. The prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would have supported the need for new raids to prevent Tehran from restoring its nuclear and military capabilities. Over the past ten days the United States has actually increased military pressure and the president Donald Trump he hinted that too Pickaxe Mountain could be targeted. Interviewed on July 13 by conservative journalist Hugh Hewitt, Trump called the underground complex a possible target for “a major coup,” mentioning it publicly for the first time, having previously referred only to an Iranian site carved out of granite. There were no replies on the Iranian front. Neither the Foreign Minister of Tehran nor theInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) commented on the rumors. The White House also avoided further statements, limiting itself to recalling the president’s recent statements. The Pickaxe site has been monitored by Western intelligence services for years. It stands near one of the main Iranian nuclear complexes and was designed as an underground structure intended to replace the centrifuge assembly plant seriously damaged by the explosion that occurred in 2020, an episode attributed by various reconstructions to a sabotage operation.
Second the Institute for Science and International Securitya research center specializing in nuclear proliferation, the site has seen intense activity over the last fifteen months. Satellite images would show a continuous movement of heavy vehicles, tunnel consolidation work and the strengthening of security measures along the perimeter. Interventions would also have been carried out in an older tunnel network, built in 2007 and subsequently sealed by the Iranian authorities. For David Albright, president of the institute, the hypothesis that the centrifuges were moved inside the tunnels is technically plausible. In fact, experts estimate that the complex develops between 90 and 137 meters under the rock, sufficient depth to host numerous installations linked to the nuclear program and offer very high protection against possible bombings. Similar concerns also come from Nate Swansonwhich during theBiden administration followed the Iranian dossier at the US National Security Council. According to the former official, the long history of clandestine nuclear activities attributed to Tehran makes any initiative carried out within a fortified site free from international controls particularly alarming. “The worst scenario is that of a secret program that proceeds without any possibility of verification,” observed Swanson, underlining how the absence of inspections makes it impossible to establish with certainty what is happening inside the mountain. For this reason he reiterated the need for IAEA inspectors to be able to access the complex.
During the conflict between Israel And Iran, Pickaxe it had not been considered a priority target and had not been hit even in the subsequent US offensive that began on February 28. However, analysts and security officials have speculated for years that the site could be used to store nuclear components, host sensitive activities or even set up an enrichment plant capable of producing fissile material. Even Israeli military circles believe that the air operations conducted so far have not eliminated all the infrastructure connected to the Iranian nuclear program. According to an officer involved in planning the objectives, there are still numerous sites to be neutralized, with Pickaxe Mountain indicated among those of greatest strategic interest. Centrifuges represent the heart of the uranium enrichment process. These devices rotate the uranium hexafluoride gas, separating the isotopes and making it possible to obtain material intended both for civil use and, if further enriched, for the production of nuclear weapons. Iran continues to claim that it pursues exclusively peaceful objectives, but according to available information it has approximately 450 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%a level very close to that required for military uses. However, the mere presence of centrifuges in the underground complex does not constitute proof of the existence of a new enrichment plant. One of the hypotheses is that Tehran simply moved the equipment that survived the bombing to a more secure facility, reducing the risk of it being destroyed in any future attacks. The origin of the centrifuges which, according to Israel, were moved to Pickaxe also remains unknown. They could come from the main Iranian nuclear sites or belong to the reserve stocks already present in the country. Making an independent assessment even more difficult is the IAEA’s lack of access to the facility. The UN agency confirmed that it had not received detailed information from Iran on the activities carried out at the site or on the planned programmes. Director General Rafael Grossi had already recalled, last March, that Tehran had communicated its intention to develop nuclear activities within the Pickaxe complex in 2021.
