Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to present President Donald Trump with intelligence showing Iran continues to expand its nuclear activity at the secret underground site known as Pickaxe Mountain, the New York Post reported Monday, citing a source in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem-based source added that Israel will also present Trump with information on Iran’s efforts to rebuild missile and drone systems damaged in strikes. According to the source, the findings reinforce the assessment that Tehran has no intention of abandoning its nuclear ambitions or military buildup as part of ceasefire talks with the United States.
Meanwhile, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal, Israel has obtained evidence that nuclear centrifuges were recently transferred for the first time to the secret facility at Pickaxe Mountain, since construction began in 2020.
1+The facility is located more than 90 meters underground, near the nuclear facility at Natanz. For years there has been suspicion that the site was intended to serve Iran’s nuclear program, but until now no clear evidence of nuclear activity at the location has been published.
The lack of evidence was also one of the reasons the facility was not attacked in previous rounds of strikes by the United States and Israel. Trump himself tried last week to downplay the significance of reports about what’s happening at the site, telling reporters that Washington has no information indicating activity there.
1+However, the American president recently signaled he is willing to consider striking the site. At the same time, it was reported that U.S. forces are also preparing for the possibility of a ground operation to seize hundreds of kilograms of enriched uranium believed to be stored in Iran.