From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Israel said to believe Iran moved both centrifuges and highly enriched uranium to Pickaxe Mountain in 2025
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Israel believes that Iran transferred some of its 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium to the Pickaxe Mountain site after the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June 2025, CNN reports.
The report quoted a single Israeli source assessing that “part” of the stockpile of 60% enriched uranium was moved to the fortified underground site.
An unsourced report on Israel’s Channel 12 says Pickaxe Mountain, which was constructed to be impervious to bombing, may well be able to withstand the kind of bunker-buster attacks the US used against three other Iranian nuclear facilities in the June 2025 war.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier today that Israel assesses that Iran moved thousands of its advanced centrifuges to the site as well. Experts such as David Albright say 60%-enriched uranium can potentially be further enriched to weapons grade in a matter of weeks or even days.
Pickaxe Mountain has not been hit by the US or Israel yet.
US President Donald Trump claimed today that the US will attack the site “probably pretty soon.”
Iran has not allowed the UN’s nuclear watchdog access to the Pickaxe Mountain site. And International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi has said Iran in 2021 declared its “intention to have nuclear activity” there.
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