A senior Israeli delegation traveled to Washington last week for secret meetings with U.S. officials to present Israel’s position on ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Channel 14 has learned that one of the central issues the delegation raised was the need to address the nuclear facility buried deep inside Pickaxe Mountain—considered one of the most fortified and sensitive sites in Iran’s nuclear program.
1+According to sources familiar with the details, even before the visit, Israel made clear it views the facility as a strategic target that cannot remain outside any future arrangement with Tehran. Shortly after the meetings, a significant shift emerged in messaging from Washington: President Donald Trump mentioned the Pickaxe site publicly for the first time last night and even threatened that the United States might take military action against it.
Israeli officials assess that raising the issue in meetings with the Americans contributed to the facility entering the White House’s public discourse for the first time. However, security sources emphasize that striking the site would be far more complex than the attack carried out against the Fordow facility, which is located about 90 meters underground. According to assessments, the Pickaxe facility is built at a significantly greater depth, posing a challenge even for the most advanced weaponry in U.S. hands, including bunker-buster bombs weighing about 13 tons.
1+The Americans face several operational options, each with significant limitations:
• Use of tactical nuclear weapons – a scenario assessed as having zero probability, mainly because Trump does not want to give Putin legitimacy for similar use in the Russia-Ukraine war.
• Collapsing the tunnel entrances leading to the facility – a move that might limit activity at the site but not necessarily destroy it.
• Use of advanced bunker busters – an option where there is doubt whether it would suffice given the site’s exceptional depth.
• Special ground operation – an option with an exceptionally high risk level for executing forces.
Trump’s unusual remarks and the growing focus on the Piqaqas facility may indicate that the issue has become one of the central points of contention in any future discussion of Iran’s nuclear program, and that Israel continues to work with Washington to ensure the site is not left outside any possible arrangement.