As tensions between the US and Iran continue to simmer, it is now being alleged that there has been an increase in construction at Pickaxe mountain, a nuclear site, in Iran’s Isfahan province.
The UN atomic watchdog’s board said that Tehran was reported for its failure to cooperate in a long-running probe into uranium traces detected by inspectors at various undeclared sites in the Islamic Republic. New satellite imagery allegedly shows heightened construction activity in 2026 on Pickaxe. After reports of the US’s persuasion, the IAEA’s board on Wednesday reported Iran to the UNSC for the first time in 20 years, according to The Associated Press.
Analysis can neither confirm nor deny reports that Iran moved centrifuges into the site, but the nature of activity suggests the facility is not yet capable of enriching uranium, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has said. “There is a clear surge in construction activity in 2026 that corresponds to the raising and hardening of the portal accesses, paving of the internal road network, reinforcement around access areas, and the flattening and removal of excavation spoil,” it said. The US resolution demands that Iran “urgently remedy its non-compliance” and allow checks to ensure “the non-diversion of nuclear material,” according to a copy of the two-page document cited by Bloomberg News.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said the US could “hit” Iran’s heavily fortified underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain “very soon”, days after Washington targeted Iranian military targets, as he defended the months-long US military campaign against the Islamic Republic, saying its primary objective was to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Russia and Niger opposed it, eight countries abstained, and one didn’t vote as it was in arrears, AP reported, citing diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity While China.
However, Iran has said that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, and its program is entirely peaceful.
