PDB Afternoon Bulletin | July 21st, 2026: Report: Iran Has A New Nuclear Fortress & Cuba's U.S. Threats

**Mike Baker** (0:11)
It's Tuesday, the 21st of July. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, a new Israeli intelligence report suggests Iran has moved key parts of his nuclear program into a fortified underground complex that could become the US military's next target. I'll have the details. Later in the show, Cuba-linked groups are reportedly planning nationwide actions against US military bases, ICE facilities and other federal sites as tensions rise between Washington and Havana. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.
Despite weeks of strikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure by both US and Israeli forces, Israeli intelligence believes Tehran has begun moving critical nuclear equipment into one of its most heavily fortified underground sites. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Israeli officials have concluded that Iran quietly moved thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges into a sprawling complex known as Pickaxe Mountain. It's a facility located deep underground that's long worried Western intelligence agencies, but has so far escaped a direct attack. The site, known in Iran as Mount Kolang, sits near the country's Natanz nuclear complex and has been under US and Israeli surveillance for years. While relatively little is publicly known about what lies inside, satellite imagery has shown steady construction over the past year, including reinforced tunnel entrances, expanding security perimeters and regular truck traffic into the mountain. Experts estimate the tunnel complex extends roughly 300 to 450 feet beneath solid rock, deep enough to withstand many conventional airstrikes and spacious enough to house multiple nuclear-related facilities. According to Israeli intelligence shared with Washington, Iran transferred thousands of centrifuges to the site sometime after the 12-day war, when American and Israeli strikes heavily damaged the country's three primary nuclear facilities. Now, it's important to note what we don't know at this stage. Neither Israel nor the US has publicly released evidence supporting this assessment regarding the movement of nuclear materials and equipment. And not surprisingly, Iran has not commented on the report. It is unclear exactly which or how many centrifuges were moved or whether the equipment has already been installed and put into operation. The centrifuges could simply be in storage, relocated to protect them from future attacks. But they could also represent the foundation of a new underground enrichment facility, one far more difficult to monitor and destroy than Iran's previous sites. Either possibility, of course, presents a challenge. While centrifuges alone don't produce a nuclear weapon, they are among the most important components of any uranium enrichment program. Iran insists, of course, that its nuclear activities are peaceful. But as we've discussed many times here on The PDB, the country has already accumulated a substantial stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity. That's well beyond what's required for civilian power generation or medical research purposes and only a short technical step away from weapons-grade material. For Israel, the report reinforces a concern that has existed for years, that every military setback simply pushes Iran's nuclear program deeper underground. Instead of concentrating equipment in well-known facilities like Natanz or Fordow, Tehran may now be dispersing critical components into hardened locations that will specifically to survive sustained bombing campaigns. That possibility has already attracted the attention of President Trump. Earlier this month, Trump publicly identified Pickaxe Mountain as a potential military target, calling it, quote, a possible target for a nice big fat shot, which I believe is a technical military term. It marked the first time he explicitly referred to the site by name, signaling that it is now firmly on Washington's radar.
Whether that rhetoric translates into military action remains to be seen, of course. Any strike against Pickaxe Mountain would likely present a far greater challenge than previous operations simply because of the depth and construction of the underground complex. Military planners would need to plan for specialized bunker-busting munitions and multiple waves of strikes to have any confidence that the site had been significantly impacted.
For now, the intelligence remains unverified, and many questions remain unanswered. But if Israel's assessment is correct, Pickaxe Mountain could soon become the next focal point in the confrontation over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
All right, coming up next, The State Department is warning that Cuba-linked activist groups are preparing coordinated nationwide actions targeting US military bases, ice facilities and federal buildings in the event that Washington moves in some fashion against Havana. I'll be right back.
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