Israeli Intelligence Assesses Iran Has Moved Nuclear Centrifuges Into Pickaxe Mountain Facility

Israeli intelligence has assessed that Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into an underground facility inside Pickaxe Mountain last fall, following the June 2025 twelve-day war in which US and Israeli strikes hit three of Iran's main nuclear sites, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday citing Israeli and US officials 123. The site sits near Natanz and was built to replace Iran's prior underground centrifuge assembly plant, which was heavily damaged in a 2020 explosion widely attributed to sabotage 1. Satellite imagery shows the tunnel complex carved more than 100 meters below bedrock, deeper than the fortified Fordow enrichment site, and the facility was not struck in either round of strikes 1. Tehran has told the IAEA the site is solely a centrifuge production and assembly plant rather than an active enrichment facility, but Iranian authorities have barred IAEA inspectors from entering and have not answered Director General Rafael Grossi's requests to verify that claim 1. President Trump said last week the US sees "no activity" at the site and called it "a possible target for a nice big fat shot right near the front door," while an Israeli military official told the Journal the June strikes did not sufficiently target nuclear-weapons-related facilities including Pickaxe Mountain 23.