UN atomic agency confirms construction activity at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain
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The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has confirmed it has observed construction activity at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified underground site long suspected of housing nuclear-related work.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi made the remarks Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg.
Grossi said remote imagery shows new movement at the tunnel complex, located just south of Iran’s main Natanz uranium-enrichment plant near Tehran.
“There are some indications that there is movement around this construction site,” he stated.
“But as IAEA, we don’t have any concrete information as to activities that may be taking place there.”
The agency has never inspected the interior because Iran has treated it as a construction site.
Pickaxe Mountain consists of a network of tunnels that Iran began excavating roughly three years ago after sabotage at a centrifuge workshop.
Iranian officials at the time said they intended to place sensitive facilities deep underground for protection.
“They said at the time, ‘we are going to put everything in tunnels, inside a mountain.’” Grossi said.
“So this is going to be impermeable and protected from attacks. They have been working there,” he added.
The site remains inaccessible to inspectors.
US President Donald Trump has publicly highlighted the location at least twice in the past week, drawing renewed attention to possible nuclear activities there.
Grossi noted that the IAEA needs access to Pickaxe Mountain along with other key sites such as Fordow and Isfahan once cooperation resumes.
The comments come amid broader concerns over Iran’s lack of cooperation with the agency.
Grossi said negotiations and engagement have stalled amid the ongoing conflict, leading to a loss of continuity of knowledge about Iran’s nuclear material, including highly enriched uranium.
The IAEA Board of Governors this week referred the matter to the UN Security Council for the first time in two decades, citing Tehran’s failure to allow inspections.
“We are not getting any cooperation from Iran. Things, of course, degrade,” Grossi said.
Iran has indicated it will not grant access while the conflict continues.
The director general expressed doubt that inspections would resume soon.
