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Knowledge Nugget: What is Pickaxe Mountain and strategic sites at centre of West Asia crisis?

Why is Pickaxe Mountain drawing global attention? Where are Natanz and South Pars? How is the West Asia crisis damaging historical sites? Here's all you need to know.

Knowledge Nugget: Why is Pickaxe Mountain at the centre of the West Asia Crisis?

A satellite image shows an overview of the Natanz nuclear facility and Pickaxe Mountain in Iran. (Photo: Reuters)

7 min readNew DelhiJul 16, 2026 01:10 PM IST First published on: Jul 15, 2026 at 01:49 PM IST

Take a look at the essential events, concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your UPSC Current Affairs knowledge nugget for today on Pickaxe mountain and sites in news in the context of west asia crisis.

Knowledge Nugget: Pickaxe Mountain

Subject: Geography and International Relations

Why in the news?

US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facility known as “Pickaxe Mountain,” putting renewed focus on one of Tehran’s most secretive underground sites that experts say is designed to withstand conventional bunker-buster bombs. In this context, let’s know about Pickaxe Mountain and other sites that have been in the news in the context of the West Asia crisis.

Key Takeaways:

1. Pickaxe Mountain, also known as Kūh-e Kolang Gaz Lā, is a deeply buried underground nuclear facility under construction near Iran’s main uranium enrichment complex at Natanz. It has emerged as one of the most closely watched sites in Iran’s nuclear programme after US President Donald Trump threatened to target it in fresh remarks this week.

2. It lies about 1.5 km south of the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran. The site is dug into a mountain in the Zagros range, making it far more protected than Iran’s existing underground facilities.

3. Satellite imagery analysed by independent experts suggests Iran has been excavating two large tunnel complexes beneath the mountain since around 2020, The National reported, citing analysts. Iran has not publicly disclosed the site’s purpose.

Other Sites in News

4. Natanz enrichment plant: The US and Israel earlier also attacked on Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility on March 21, long regarded as Iran’s main enrichment site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also confirmed entrances to Iran’s underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) were bombed.

— Long regarded as Iran’s main enrichment site, Natanz, located 220 km southeast of Tehran, is home to two enrichment plants- Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) and Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP)- that were operational at the start of Israeli attacks in June 2025.

5. South Pars: Israel attacked Iran’s key offshore South Pars natural gas field. It is in the Persian Gulf and accounts for up to three-fourths of Iranian gas production. It is shared between Iran and Qatar.

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— South Pars is the world’s largest gas field. The entire South Pars reservoir contains an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of usable gas — enough to supply the entire world’s needs for 13 years — according to a Reuters report.

6. Ras Laffan: The Ras Laffan Industrial City is Qatar’s primary gas hub. QatarEnergy’s primary LNG production units, liquefaction plants, and export infrastructure are all concentrated in Ras Laffan, making it the world’s largest LNG hub that accounts for roughly a fifth of global LNG supply.

Iran

Iran, or Persia, has been home to one of the oldest civilisations in the world, beginning with the Elamite empires in the fourth millennium BCE. It has a rich history, bearing the imprint of the many empires, religions, and cultures that have rolled through it over millennia. Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, Alexander the Great, and Nader Shah are just some of the many emperors who shaped the country’s history and evolution.

7. Kharg Island: Trump has repeatedly asserted that the US may send American troops to seize control of Iran’s key oil export terminal at Kharg Island. Referred to as the “orphan pearl” of the Persian Gulf, Kharg Island, which sits barely 25 kilometres off Iran’s coast, processes 90 per cent of Tehran’s crude oil exports and serves as the jugular of the country’s cash-strapped economy.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Damage to historical sites in Iran

Beyond nuclear energy and other crucial sites, historical and cultural sites were also damaged in the attacks.

1. Golestan Palace: Following military strikes by American and Israeli forces, Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage confirmed catastrophic damage to the Golestan Palace (Kākh-e Golestān), a UNESCO World Heritage site dating back to the 16th century.

Debris at the Golestan Palace after the recent air strikes. (Reuters/File)

— It is a lavish monument of the Qajar era (1789 to 1925). It became a centre of Qajari arts and architecture, of which it is an outstanding example and has remained a source of inspiration for Iranian artists and architects to this day.

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— The Golestan Palace is protected under international law, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

Hague Convention of 1954

The Hague Convention of 1954, formulated under UNESCO, provides for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The Convention was formulated with an aim to protect cultural property such as monuments of architecture, art or history, archaeological sites, works of art, manuscripts, books, and other objects of artistic, historical, and archaeological value as well as scientific collections of any kind regardless of their origin or ownership.

2. Chehel Sotoun palace and the Masjed-e Jāme, : The US and Israeli forces struck an ammunition depot in Iran’s Isfahan on March 31. Earlier, UNESCO confirmed damage to the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun palace and the Masjed-e Jāme, the country’s oldest Friday mosque, both located in Isfahan.

— According to the UNESCO website, “the Masjed-e Jamé (‘Friday mosque’) can be seen as a stunning illustration of the evolution of mosque architecture over twelve centuries, starting in AD 841. It is the oldest preserved edifice of its type in Iran and a prototype for later mosque designs throughout Central Asia.

Post Read Questions

(1) The Natanz uranium enrichment facility is located in:

(a) Russia

(b) Israel

(d) Ukraine

(2) With reference to the places in news, consider the following pairs:

1. Ras Laffan Industrial City – Iran

2. South Pars gas field – UAE

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly marked?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer Key

1. (c) 2. (d)

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Roshni Yadav

Roshni Yadav is a Deputy Copy Editor with The Indian Express. At The Indian Express, she writes for ... Read More