International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi stated in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday that the nuclear watchdog has identified renewed construction activity at Iran’s subterranean “Pickaxe Mountain” (Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La) site. Grossi noted that while agency inspectors have yet to conduct an in-person inspection inside the fortified tunnel complex, satellite and remote surveillance indicate fresh movement at the facility, which is situated south of Tehran’s primary uranium enrichment plant.
1+“There are some indications that there is movement around this construction site; we do not have concrete information as to the activities that might be taking place there,” Grossi stated. The IAEA chief’s remarks follow the agency’s formal referral of Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council over sustained non-compliance with safeguard verification demands concerning its atomic enterprise.
1+The confirmation comes roughly 24 hours after CNN broadcast satellite imagery documenting intensive excavation and construction work across the perimeter. Bloomberg noted that international monitors have not verified the precise status, containment, or whereabouts of Iran’s stockpiles of uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels since June 2025, when large-scale preemptive strikes by Israel and the United States targeted the Islamic Republic’s expansive nuclear infrastructure.