Eighty metres. That is the thickness of solid granite standing between an American bomb and Iran's most sensitive nuclear centrifuges — and, by a chain of consequences no one in the region can afford to ignore, between a stable global oil price and one that could double overnight .
The facility the Pentagon calls Pickaxe Mountain — Kuh-e Kolang Gaz in Farsi — has become the focal point of the most dangerous escalation between Washington and Tehran in decades. US President Donald Trump has declared the Iran ceasefire "over" and warned that the United States would "take out Pickaxe Mountain" and continue military action against Tehran .
"We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready. Let them know we're coming," Trump said in an interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show . He added that the United States was closely monitoring the site and would "probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon" .
The threat has been met with a sharp Iranian response. A senior security source in Tehran told CNN that if Trump acts on his threats, Iran "will deliver a devastating response, and the price will be paid by American soldiers and his regional partners" .
What Lies Beneath Pickaxe Mountain
The site that has captured global attention lies in the Zagros mountain range of central Iran, approximately two kilometres from the heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility — which was struck by US bunker-buster bombs in June last year .
Satellite imagery and open-source analysis suggest Iran has excavated vast underground galleries around 100 metres below the surface inside a granite ridge . Some estimates place the depth as great as 600 metres beneath the mountain's peak, making it one of the most deeply buried nuclear-related facilities ever constructed .
Construction is believed to have begun in late 2020, and the site has never been inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency . Iran has described the complex as a centrifuge assembly facility intended to replace one destroyed in what Tehran described as an act of sabotage . However, nuclear experts and Western intelligence officials have raised concerns that the facility's scale and depth could instead make it suitable for covert uranium enrichment or as a secure storage site for highly enriched uranium .
The facility's location is no accident. The Fordow enrichment plant — Iran's other deeply buried nuclear site — sits under approximately 80 metres of rock. But Pickaxe Mountain appears to have been designed with one purpose in mind: survival .
"Granite has a much higher compressive strength than the sedimentary limestone and dolostone above sites like Fordow, meaning the rock itself is better at absorbing and dispersing the shock from conventional bunker-buster bombs," Benjamin Ashraf, an analyst at the Open Nuclear Network, told The New Arab .
The site that has captured global attention lies in the Zagros mountain range of central Iran, approximately two kilometres from the heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility — which was struck by US bunker-buster bombs in June last year .
Satellite imagery and open-source analysis suggest Iran has excavated vast underground galleries around 100 metres below the surface inside a granite ridge . Some estimates place the depth as great as 600 metres beneath the mountain's peak, making it one of the most deeply buried nuclear-related facilities ever constructed .
Construction is believed to have begun in late 2020, and the site has never been inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency . Iran has described the complex as a centrifuge assembly facility intended to replace one destroyed in what Tehran described as an act of sabotage . However, nuclear experts and Western intelligence officials have raised concerns that the facility's scale and depth could instead make it suitable for covert uranium enrichment or as a secure storage site for highly enriched uranium .
The facility's location is no accident. The Fordow enrichment plant — Iran's other deeply buried nuclear site — sits under approximately 80 metres of rock. But Pickaxe Mountain appears to have been designed with one purpose in mind: survival .
"Granite has a much higher compressive strength than the sedimentary limestone and dolostone above sites like Fordow, meaning the rock itself is better at absorbing and dispersing the shock from conventional bunker-buster bombs," Benjamin Ashraf, an analyst at the Open Nuclear Network, told The New Arab .
Can US Bombs Destroy It?
The physics are brutally simple. The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator — the largest conventional bomb in the US arsenal at approximately 30,000 pounds — is designed to burrow through around 60 metres of reinforced concrete or moderate rock before detonating . Pickaxe Mountain's granite shield sits comfortably beyond that threshold .
Defence analysts note that even successive strikes on the same impact point — the "dig and re-dig" strategy the Pentagon has war-gamed — face geological uncertainty. Fractured rock from a first impact can absorb rather than transmit the energy of a second bomb, diffusing the blast before it reaches the enrichment halls below .
Ashraf put it plainly: "The United States can almost certainly crater portals, collapse access tunnels and sever power and ventilation at Pickaxe. It is much harder to guarantee the elimination of all underground halls 80–100 metres down without either nuclear use or post-strike inspection, neither of which is being contemplated" .
The only munition that guarantees destruction of a facility this deep is a tactical nuclear weapon — and the political, moral, and radiological consequences of using one against a non-nuclear state would rewrite every rule of the post-1945 order .
50,000 Troops and a 3,000-Kilometre Front
As the rhetoric escalates, so does the military footprint. According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), more than 50,000 US military personnel are currently deployed throughout the Middle East . The figure represents a significant surge in American presence as Washington prepares for potential further escalation.
Iran has responded by opening what analysts describe as a 3,000-kilometre front line stretching from Amman to the Strait of Hormuz . Iranian attacks have reportedly targeted US military facilities in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan . Iran's strategic goal appears to be expanding the conflict as widely as possible, making containment more difficult and dispersing US defensive capabilities across multiple fronts .
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also reinforced Iran's border with Iraq's Kurdistan Region, deploying special forces, artillery, tanks, missiles, and drones in what Kurdish opposition parties believe is preparation for a possible confrontation . The deployment reportedly includes roughly 3,000 troops from the IRGC's Saberin Special Forces Brigade .
The physics are brutally simple. The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator — the largest conventional bomb in the US arsenal at approximately 30,000 pounds — is designed to burrow through around 60 metres of reinforced concrete or moderate rock before detonating . Pickaxe Mountain's granite shield sits comfortably beyond that threshold .
Defence analysts note that even successive strikes on the same impact point — the "dig and re-dig" strategy the Pentagon has war-gamed — face geological uncertainty. Fractured rock from a first impact can absorb rather than transmit the energy of a second bomb, diffusing the blast before it reaches the enrichment halls below .
Ashraf put it plainly: "The United States can almost certainly crater portals, collapse access tunnels and sever power and ventilation at Pickaxe. It is much harder to guarantee the elimination of all underground halls 80–100 metres down without either nuclear use or post-strike inspection, neither of which is being contemplated" .
The only munition that guarantees destruction of a facility this deep is a tactical nuclear weapon — and the political, moral, and radiological consequences of using one against a non-nuclear state would rewrite every rule of the post-1945 order .
50,000 Troops and a 3,000-Kilometre Front
As the rhetoric escalates, so does the military footprint. According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), more than 50,000 US military personnel are currently deployed throughout the Middle East . The figure represents a significant surge in American presence as Washington prepares for potential further escalation.
Iran has responded by opening what analysts describe as a 3,000-kilometre front line stretching from Amman to the Strait of Hormuz . Iranian attacks have reportedly targeted US military facilities in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan . Iran's strategic goal appears to be expanding the conflict as widely as possible, making containment more difficult and dispersing US defensive capabilities across multiple fronts .
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also reinforced Iran's border with Iraq's Kurdistan Region, deploying special forces, artillery, tanks, missiles, and drones in what Kurdish opposition parties believe is preparation for a possible confrontation . The deployment reportedly includes roughly 3,000 troops from the IRGC's Saberin Special Forces Brigade .
The Strait of Hormuz: The Real Flashpoint
The corridor talk in Washington is not about whether Pickaxe Mountain can be destroyed — it is about what happens in the 72 hours after the first bomb falls . And that conversation leads, with terrifying directness, to the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has spent decades preparing its asymmetric response to exactly this scenario. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains hundreds of anti-ship cruise missiles, fast-attack boats, and naval mines positioned along the strait's narrow shipping lanes . The moment a bomb hits Fordow or Pickaxe Mountain, the operating assumption among Gulf security analysts is that Tehran activates its Hormuz playbook .
Trump has already declared that the United States is "taking control" of the Strait of Hormuz and has announced the reinstatement of a US naval blockade on Iranian shipping . The President has also proposed a 20 percent fee on ships transiting the strait — a move that would effectively turn the world's most important oil chokepoint into a toll road .
Iran, meanwhile, has announced the strait is "closed" and has vowed not to back down . An Iranian security source told CNN that whether Trump proceeds with strikes or not "will not make any difference in Iran's implementation of its arrangements regarding the Strait of Hormuz" .
The corridor talk in Washington is not about whether Pickaxe Mountain can be destroyed — it is about what happens in the 72 hours after the first bomb falls . And that conversation leads, with terrifying directness, to the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has spent decades preparing its asymmetric response to exactly this scenario. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains hundreds of anti-ship cruise missiles, fast-attack boats, and naval mines positioned along the strait's narrow shipping lanes . The moment a bomb hits Fordow or Pickaxe Mountain, the operating assumption among Gulf security analysts is that Tehran activates its Hormuz playbook .
Trump has already declared that the United States is "taking control" of the Strait of Hormuz and has announced the reinstatement of a US naval blockade on Iranian shipping . The President has also proposed a 20 percent fee on ships transiting the strait — a move that would effectively turn the world's most important oil chokepoint into a toll road .
Iran, meanwhile, has announced the strait is "closed" and has vowed not to back down . An Iranian security source told CNN that whether Trump proceeds with strikes or not "will not make any difference in Iran's implementation of its arrangements regarding the Strait of Hormuz" .
India's Quiet Vulnerability
For India, the stakes could hardly be higher. India imports roughly 88 percent of its crude oil, and approximately 60 percent of that volume transits the Strait of Hormuz . A two-week closure of the strait — the conservative estimate in most war-game scenarios — would trigger an immediate spike in Brent crude prices that analysts have modelled at anywhere between $30 and $50 per barrel above current levels .
Translate that into the language an Indian household understands: petrol at Rs 130-150 per litre, diesel following close behind, and a fertiliser and transport cost shock that would ripple through food prices within weeks . India's current account deficit would blow out. The rupee would come under pressure.
There is also a dimension to this scenario that is discussed in hushed tones: radioactive contamination. Fordow houses cascades of centrifuges enriching uranium hexafluoride gas. A conventional strike breaching the enrichment halls could scatter radioactive material — not a nuclear explosion, but a dirty-bomb effect across a significant radius . Prevailing wind patterns carry particulate matter south and east — toward the Persian Gulf, toward the water Gulf states desalinate for drinking, and toward the maritime lanes that carry Indian crude .
For India, the stakes could hardly be higher. India imports roughly 88 percent of its crude oil, and approximately 60 percent of that volume transits the Strait of Hormuz . A two-week closure of the strait — the conservative estimate in most war-game scenarios — would trigger an immediate spike in Brent crude prices that analysts have modelled at anywhere between $30 and $50 per barrel above current levels .
Translate that into the language an Indian household understands: petrol at Rs 130-150 per litre, diesel following close behind, and a fertiliser and transport cost shock that would ripple through food prices within weeks . India's current account deficit would blow out. The rupee would come under pressure.
There is also a dimension to this scenario that is discussed in hushed tones: radioactive contamination. Fordow houses cascades of centrifuges enriching uranium hexafluoride gas. A conventional strike breaching the enrichment halls could scatter radioactive material — not a nuclear explosion, but a dirty-bomb effect across a significant radius . Prevailing wind patterns carry particulate matter south and east — toward the Persian Gulf, toward the water Gulf states desalinate for drinking, and toward the maritime lanes that carry Indian crude .
What Comes Next
The real calculation in Washington, many analysts believe, is not military but political. Trump needs the Iran threat to remain credible enough to justify maximum-pressure sanctions and arms sales to Gulf allies. But an actual strike on Pickaxe Mountain carries consequences — Hormuz closure, oil shock, radioactive fallout, and the near-certainty that Iran would withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty entirely and race to a weapon openly .
The more likely near-term move, in this reading, is not a bomb but a squeeze: tighter sanctions, covert sabotage, and diplomatic isolation designed to force Tehran back to negotiations on Washington's terms. But the rhetoric has escalated past the point where climb-down is costless .
Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the speaker of Iran's parliament, described Pickaxe Mountain as "the most heavily fortified nuclear facility in the world" and argued that Trump's consideration of attacking it showed Washington had exhausted its military options .
"When the enemy reaches this level of operational desperation, it means it has reached the end of the road and entered this war without a plan," Mohammadi said. He warned that any attack on the facility "will turn the region into hell" .
The real calculation in Washington, many analysts believe, is not military but political. Trump needs the Iran threat to remain credible enough to justify maximum-pressure sanctions and arms sales to Gulf allies. But an actual strike on Pickaxe Mountain carries consequences — Hormuz closure, oil shock, radioactive fallout, and the near-certainty that Iran would withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty entirely and race to a weapon openly .
The more likely near-term move, in this reading, is not a bomb but a squeeze: tighter sanctions, covert sabotage, and diplomatic isolation designed to force Tehran back to negotiations on Washington's terms. But the rhetoric has escalated past the point where climb-down is costless .
Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the speaker of Iran's parliament, described Pickaxe Mountain as "the most heavily fortified nuclear facility in the world" and argued that Trump's consideration of attacking it showed Washington had exhausted its military options .
"When the enemy reaches this level of operational desperation, it means it has reached the end of the road and entered this war without a plan," Mohammadi said. He warned that any attack on the facility "will turn the region into hell" .
The Questions That Remain
Can conventional US bombs destroy Pickaxe Mountain, or would only a nuclear weapon suffice?
How would Iran retaliate — and would the Strait of Hormuz be closed?
What would a Hormuz blockade mean for global oil prices and the Indian economy?
Could a strike scatter radioactive material across the Gulf region?
What role are the 50,000 deployed US troops preparing to play?
Key Takeaways
Pickaxe Mountain (Kuh-e Kolang Gaz) is a deeply buried nuclear-related facility in Iran's Zagros mountains, with underground halls estimated at 80–100 metres beneath granite
Trump has threatened to strike the site, saying the US will "take out Pickaxe Mountain" and "probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon"
Experts warn even the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator may be insufficient to destroy the facility without nuclear weapons
50,000 US troops are deployed in the Middle East amid escalating strikes and Iranian retaliation across a 3,000-kilometre front
Iran has warned of a "devastating response" and vowed to proceed with its Strait of Hormuz arrangements
Approximately 60% of India's crude oil imports transit the Strait, exposing the country to severe economic consequences
Can conventional US bombs destroy Pickaxe Mountain, or would only a nuclear weapon suffice?
How would Iran retaliate — and would the Strait of Hormuz be closed?
What would a Hormuz blockade mean for global oil prices and the Indian economy?
Could a strike scatter radioactive material across the Gulf region?
What role are the 50,000 deployed US troops preparing to play?
Key Takeaways
Pickaxe Mountain (Kuh-e Kolang Gaz) is a deeply buried nuclear-related facility in Iran's Zagros mountains, with underground halls estimated at 80–100 metres beneath granite
Trump has threatened to strike the site, saying the US will "take out Pickaxe Mountain" and "probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon"
Experts warn even the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator may be insufficient to destroy the facility without nuclear weapons
50,000 US troops are deployed in the Middle East amid escalating strikes and Iranian retaliation across a 3,000-kilometre front
Iran has warned of a "devastating response" and vowed to proceed with its Strait of Hormuz arrangements
Approximately 60% of India's crude oil imports transit the Strait, exposing the country to severe economic consequences
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