Iran denies existence of nuclear facility at Kolang mountain

This handout satellite image courtesy of Vantor shows vehicles at the western entrance of the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex adjacent to the Natanz Nuclear Facility near Natanz, Isfahan province, central Iran, on June 21, 2026. (Vantor/AFP)
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Updated 22 July 2026
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Iran denies existence of nuclear facility at Kolang mountain

  • In 2025, US media outlets have reported that Iran had accelerated construction at a secret underground nuclear site at Kolang mountain, which Tehran denied

TEHRAN: Iran again denied the existence of any secret nuclear complex at Kolang mountain on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump threatened to strike the site in the center of the country.
“Washington’s obsessive focus on Kolang Kouh where no nuclear activity is taking place is nothing more than a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X.
He insisted “Iran’s nuclear activities have been fully declared” to the UN’s atomic watchdog.
Trump had warned on Tuesday that the US would hit the site, known as Pickaxe Mountain in English.
“We’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” Trump said, adding that he would not normally announce targets but “there’s not a thing they can do about it.”
The US has yet to follow through on the threat.
In 2025, US media outlets including The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that Iran had accelerated construction at a secret underground nuclear site at Kolang mountain, which Tehran denied.
The mountain is near Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, which was bombed by the US during a brief war in June of that year.