Trump threatens a strike on Iran's 'Pickaxe Mountain' — but the heaviest US bunker-busters may fall short
US President Donald Trump has threatened a "big, fat attack" on a deep underground site in central Iran that analysts call Pickaxe Mountain, the Flemish daily HLN reports — yet the same reporting suggests even America's most powerful bunker-busting bombs may…
In 30 seconds
- HLN reports US President Donald Trump threatened a "big, fat attack" on the underground site nicknamed Pickaxe Mountain.
- The site is described as a deep tunnel complex being built into a mountainside near Iran's Natanz nuclear installation.
- The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, weighing roughly 13,600 kg, is the heaviest bunker-buster in the US arsenal.
- Analysts cited by HLN suggest the tunnels may be dug deeper than even that bomb can penetrate.
Pickaxe Mountain is a Western nickname for a deep tunnel complex reported to be under construction in a mountainside near Iran's Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran. US President Donald Trump has, per HLN, threatened a large strike against it. The weapon usually cited for such a target is the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the roughly 13,600 kg conventional bunker-buster in the US arsenal. The core claim in the reporting is that the site may be buried too deep for even that bomb to reach, keeping Iran's most sensitive nuclear work — centrifuges and enriched uranium — potentially beyond a single strike. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors Iran's declared nuclear activity.
Background
Iran's nuclear programme has been at the centre of international confrontation for two decades, through the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), the US withdrawal from it in 2018, and repeated Israeli and American warnings about Iranian enrichment. Reporting on deep tunnelling near Natanz has circulated for several years, with analysts noting that burying facilities is a direct response to the threat of air strikes. The GBU-57 was developed specifically to reach deeply buried, hardened targets.
What to do
For readers in and connected to Belgium, the immediate practical stakes are indirect: any escalation would affect energy prices, EU and NATO security policy shaped in Brussels, and the broader diplomatic climate — but there is no direct domestic impact at this stage.
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- 5 Aug 2026
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.