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The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed construction activity at one of Iran’s most secretive nuclear facilities, a deeply buried tunnel complex known as Pickaxe Mountain. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi announced the findings on September 10, based on satellite imagery showing fresh building work at the site roughly 2 km south of Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.
The timing is not subtle. On the same day Grossi made the announcement, the IAEA’s Board of Governors voted to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for non-compliance with nuclear safeguards. It’s the first such referral in two decades, a diplomatic escalation that signals the international community’s patience has essentially run out.
What’s happening at Pickaxe Mountain
Pickaxe Mountain, or Kuh-e Kolang-e Gazela in Farsi, is an underground tunnel complex carved into a mountain near Natanz. The facility features hardened portals and advanced underground tunnel networks, with chambers considerably deeper than known facilities like Fordow.
The IAEA has never actually been inside the facility. Despite years of requests, Iran has refused to grant inspectors access. Everything the agency knows about current activity comes from overhead imagery.
Construction at the site accelerated significantly after 2020, when a series of sabotage attacks hit the Natanz complex, destroying an above-ground centrifuge workshop. Iran apparently drew the obvious conclusion: above-ground facilities are vulnerable, so move everything underground.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies identified what it called a surge in construction activity at Pickaxe Mountain throughout 2026, noting unprecedented levels of road activity around the site. The Institute for Science and International Security has similarly flagged increased portal hardening and expanded security perimeters.
The Security Council referral
The IAEA Board’s decision to refer Iran to the UN Security Council marks a major shift in the diplomatic landscape. The last time this happened was over two decades ago, and it eventually led to the sanctions regime that produced the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran’s non-compliance has deepened since June 2025, when military strikes disrupted the IAEA’s verification efforts at Iranian nuclear sites. Since then, the agency has been operating with severely limited visibility into Iran’s nuclear program, unable to verify enrichment levels, stockpile sizes, or the purpose of new construction.
That verification gap matters enormously. Without inspectors on the ground, the international community is essentially flying blind on whether Iran is enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels. Iran has already demonstrated the technical capability to enrich to 60% purity, a short technical step from the 90% needed for a weapon.
The Security Council referral opens the door to new international sanctions, though Russia and China, both permanent Security Council members with veto power, have historically been reluctant to support aggressive measures against Tehran.
Geopolitical and market implications
The escalation around Iran’s nuclear program sends ripple effects through global energy markets. Iran sits on some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and any tightening of sanctions or military confrontation in the region could squeeze supply at a time when energy markets remain sensitive to geopolitical shocks.
The broader concern is that Iran’s construction push represents a deliberate strategy to create nuclear facts on the ground before diplomacy can catch up. Underground facilities buried deep inside mountains are designed to survive airstrikes, which means the window for any military option narrows as construction progresses.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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