UN nuclear watchdog confirms activity at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain as Security Council referral looms

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on September 10, 2026, that satellite imagery shows ongoing construction and movement at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain facility, a deeply buried site adjacent to the country’s main uranium enrichment complex at Natanz. The confirmation landed one day after a detailed analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies documented road traffic and structural work at the site running well above any previously recorded levels. The IAEA Board of Governors simultaneously referred Iran’s nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council for non-compliance, the first such referral in roughly two decades. What the satellite images show, and what they don’t IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi described indicators of activity at the site but was careful to note a hard limit on what the agency actually knows. No inspector has ever set foot inside Pickaxe Mountain’s underground tunnels, despite repeated requests from the agency. Remote imagery can confirm trucks, freshly poured concrete, and expanded road networks. It cannot confirm what is being built, stored, or processed more than 100 meters underground. The CSIS analysis, published September 9,...