IAEA says nuclear watchdog has observed construction at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain

By Lazar Berman

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10 September 2026, 5:14 pm

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Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

This June 15, 2026, photo from Planet Labs PBC shows Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, upper right, and the construction at Pickaxe Mountain directly to the south of it. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

The International Atomic Energy Agency tells the Bloomberg news outlet that it has observed construction activity at Pickaxe Mountain in Iran, which Western intelligence has flagged as a likely site meant to store nuclear material.

“There are some indications that there is movement around this construction site,” says IAEA director general Rafael Grossi. “We don’t have any concrete information as to activities that may be taking place there.”

The UN nuclear watchdog has not sent inspectors inside the underground complex, which is at Natanz, but is relying on remote imagery, Grossi tells the outlet.

“They said at the time, ‘We are going to put everything in tunnels, inside a mountain,'” Grossi says. “This was going to be impermeable and protected from attacks.”

Since Israel and the US struck Iran’s nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June 2025, Iran hasn’t given IAEA inspectors access to nuclear sites that were affected by the strikes. The IAEA also has been unable to verify the status of Iran’s stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium since the June bombing.

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump said the United States may hit Pickaxe Mountain, urging Tehran to be cautious: “We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard,” Trump said in a speech at the midterm Republican convention.

Also yesterday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a statement that an analysis of six years of multisource imagery at the site “reveals a clear three-phase activity signature across the five key points of interest and the roads connecting them, indicating a site that has shifted from active excavation toward probable internal construction and continued exterior reinforcement.”

“Together, these images reveal more road activity at Pickaxe Mountain in 2026 than at any point in the site’s history. There is a clear surge in construction activity in 2026 that corresponds to the raising and hardening of the portal accesses, paving of the internal road network, reinforcement around access areas, and the flattening and removal of excavation spoil,” it said.