US Bombs Iranian Nuclear Sites, Escalating Conflict
Strikes target Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz; Pickaxe Mountain site remains a focus amid rising casualties and economic strain.
Image: Eddie Pollard / AI
Carla Rooney
The United States launched strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz in 2025, marking the eleventh consecutive night of military action.
Strikes directly followed Iran's attacks on three U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz on July 6–7, triggering Operation Epic Fury, a joint U.S.-Israel military operation against Iran's military infrastructure and senior leadership.
This broader conflict ignited with earlier U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader and other senior officials, initiating a period of brinkmanship over the Strait of Hormuz.
The situation culminated in a large-scale operation against Iran; U.S. officials confirm at least 18 U.S. troops have died and over 400 have sustained injuries since the conflict began.
Beyond the immediate human cost, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth estimates the war's financial toll at $37.5 billion; he now seeks an additional $67 billion from Congress.
Meanwhile, Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, or Pickaxe Mountain, a critical, untouched site, sits on the south side of Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.
This site remains untouched as Iran continues its digging operations, notably escaping previous U.S.-Israeli strikes despite recent intelligence reports.
These reports suggest Iran moved thousands of nuclear centrifuges to the site, burying them deep underground to make them harder to target.
The exact contents of Pickaxe Mountain remain unclear; the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has not gained access.
Consequently, the IAEA's official stance or reaction to the site's activities remains unconfirmed.
Repeated sabotage attacks on Natanz, including one Israel carried out due to its history of targeting Iran's nuclear program, prompted Iranian officials to begin work on the Pickaxe Mountain site.
This construction followed a 12-day war in June 2025, during which the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The new project at Pickaxe Mountain is under construction next to Natanz, sprawling across 2.7 square kilometers in the country’s arid Central Plateau with multiple visible entrances.
Iran is likely building a facility at Pickaxe Mountain at a depth of between 80 meters and 100 meters.
Digging has continued at the site; some experts suggest it could be even deeper underground.
Experts claim the sheer size of the construction project indicates Iran will likely use the underground facility for both uranium enrichment and centrifuge manufacturing.
The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) states the facility is not yet operational, but construction continues unabated.
The United States developed the GBU-57 bomb, a weapon capable of penetrating at least 60 meters of earth before detonation.
However, a one-two punch of GBU-57 bombs may not effectively damage a facility as deep as the one at Pickaxe Mountain.
Before the 2025 strikes, Iran had enriched uranium up to nearly weapons-grade levels of 60% purity.
Since then, Iran has not restarted enrichment, and its stockpile remains at the bombed enrichment sites.
In a separate development, the Iranian military claims it struck U.S. military targets at Camp Doha in western Kuwait and Amazon’s central data infrastructure in Bahrain.
These claims include the destruction of a U.S. long-range radar site, a communications center, satellite receiving systems, a missile defense radar, and an MQ-9 drone hangar in Kuwait.
The Iranian military further claims it destroyed the central data infrastructure of Amazon in Bahrain with several cruise missiles, stating the attack responded to the U.S.'s alleged attack on the 'civilian facilities of Darkhovey.'
U.S. Central Command (Centcom), in turn, accused Iran of attacking 'more than 30 commercial vessels' passing through the Strait of Hormuz over the past three months.
A Centcom video showed troops enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports, resulting in eight ships redirected and one disabled.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia; a Houthi media official stated they were closing the Bab al-Mandab Strait to Saudi vessels.
With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, Saudi Arabia has relied on a pipeline to the Red Sea to transport millions of barrels of oil to market.
The economic impact is evident: Brent crude traded up 1.2% at $92.09 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 1.1% to $85.23.
This renewed conflict continues to undermine diplomatic efforts to salvage an interim ceasefire deal, despite a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in June to halt military operations and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Even before the recent wars, Iranian officials increasingly threatened to pursue an atomic bomb, a stance contrasting with the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's verbal fatwa that nuclear weapons were un-Islamic.
Nuclear weapons were un-Islamic.
The new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not issued any statement regarding his views on the atomic bomb, leaving the future direction of Iran's nuclear ambitions open to speculation.