Pickaxe Mountain: Iran’s “Unbustable” Nuclear Bunker? (feat. Andrea Stricker)
About this episode
The episode discusses Iran's underground nuclear facility, Pickaxe Mountain, and the challenges it poses to U.S. military efforts.
Iran isn’t dismantling its nuclear program—it’s burying it deeper underground. At the center of growing U.S. concern is Pickaxe Mountain, a massive underground complex that signals the regime has no intention of abandoning its nuclear ambitions. Buried deep beneath solid rock and heavily fortified, the facility may be the most challenging nuclear target the United States has ever confronted, raising difficult questions about whether it can be destroyed by conventional means. Andrea Stricker, deputy director and research fellow in FDD’s Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program, joins Mark Dubowitz on The Iran Breakdown to explain why Pickaxe Mountain matters, what makes it so difficult to neutralize, what military and non-military options remain, and which other parts of Iran’s nuclear program deserve urgent attention.
People in this episode
Host: Mark Dubowitz
Guest: Andrea Stricker
Topics covered
- nuclear program
- Iran
- military options
- nonproliferation
- underground facilities
Keywords
- nuclear ambitions
- underground complex
- military options
- non-military options
- Iran's nuclear program
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: FDD
Places: Pickaxe Mountain, Iran, United States
More episodes of The Iran Breakdown with Mark Dubowitz
- After Iran: Is Erdogan’s Turkey the Middle East’s Next Great Threat? (feat. Steven A. Cook and Jonathan Schanzer)
- Energy Wars: America, Iran and the Battle of Hormuz (feat. Rich Goldberg)
- The Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary DNA (feat. Haviv Rettig Gur)
- Subterranean Warfare: Can Pickaxe Mountain Be Destroyed? (feat. Yadin Soffer)
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