Trump Threatens to Bomb Iran's 'Pickaxe Mountain' Nuclear Bunker

President Donald Trump has threatened to attack a secret Iranian nuclear facility buried deep inside a mountain, known as "Pickaxe Mountain," escalating tensions in the region. Trump told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. military would "hit that area very soon and with great intensity." He added that he has "no interest in negotiating" with Iran. The facility, called Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La in Iran, is a fortified underground complex located near the Natanz nuclear plant, one of Iran's main uranium enrichment sites. It sits about 220 kilometers south of Tehran. Experts know very little about the site. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a U.S.-based think tank, says the facility is still under construction and is buried nearly 100 meters deep inside the mountain. The name "Pickaxe Mountain" comes from its shape. Construction began in 2020, after an explosion at the Natanz plant that Iran called an act of sabotage. Iran's nuclear chief at the time said the country was building a "modern, larger, and more complete facility in the heart of the mountain" to make advanced centrifuges, which spin uranium at high speeds to produce nuclear fuel. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in March that Iran had announced plans to move its most sensitive nuclear activities underground. Satellite images analyzed by ISIS show the site has four entrances and a recently completed security wall. After U.S. and Israeli bombings began, Iran reinforced two tunnel entrances and partially filled them in to block vehicles. However, the facility was not hit in either of the 2025 or 2026 bombing campaigns, according to ISIS. Experts believe the complex is too deep for the most powerful U.S. bunker-buster bombs. A Pentagon report after the 2025 bombings said the attacks likely delayed Iran's nuclear program by one or two years, but the conclusion was not firm. ISIS says the facility is not yet operational. It remains unclear when it might become active. Sam Lair, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Reuters that reinforcing the entrances makes it harder to hit the site with penetrating bombs. Trump has ruled out ground operations, and there is no sign he will change his mind, even as hostilities with Iran worsen. Lair added: "We can infer that there are activities in Pickaxe Mountain that the Iranians want to continue, but they are worried about an attack to the point of taking steps to strengthen their defenses."