Iran’s regime is handing out iodine tablets and survival instructions to its citizens as President Donald Trump threatens to destroy the secretive underground nuclear complex known as Pickaxe Mountain.
A video guide circulating on Iranian social media tells residents how to survive a strike on the heavily fortified site. It gives three core instructions in the event of a nuclear disaster: “Get inside, stay inside and listen for updates.”
The guide warns that an attack on Pickaxe Mountain could blast large amounts of radioactive earth and rock into the atmosphere. It says strong winds could then carry radioactive dust hundreds of miles. According to the video, people living closest to the site could have as little as 10 to 15 minutes before fallout arrives.
An official with Iran’s health ministry told The Times of London that the government has also been distributing iodine tablets, which help protect against radiation poisoning, to people living near nuclear facilities.
“Yes, we are distributing iodine,” the official said. “During every war, we have tried to distribute it within a two-to-three-kilometre radius of nuclear facilities.”
He added: “Trump can no longer be trusted. He may go through with this crime.”
Meanwhile, regime supporters in Tehran burned a banner depicting White House special envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Vice President JD Vance.
The preparations come after Trump renewed his threat against the site in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.
“We bombed out all of their potential nuclear power,” Trump said. “Now we might have to go after Pickaxe but that’s not a big deal. We can do that in literally one hour, as soon as we want and anytime we want.”
Pickaxe Mountain lies more than 300 feet beneath Kolang Mountain. Top nuclear scientists working for Iran’s new ayatollah are rumored to be operating deep underground there.
Israeli officials told The Wall Street Journal in July that they believe Iran has moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels inside the mountain. Experts say the complex could be better protected than any of the facilities the U.S. and Israel have already struck.
Tehran has refused to explain what is happening inside. Asked previously about the site, Iranian officials replied: “It’s none of your business.”
Trump, however, has insisted the fortified mountain would be an easy target. He argues Iran’s defenses were left in shambles by earlier U.S. and Israeli strikes during the war.
“Their military is gone, their navy is gone, their air force is gone,” the president said. “They have some missiles but they don’t have many and they have very little capacity to build more.”
The warning is the latest in a string of threats aimed at the site. In early September, after months of signaling that Pickaxe Mountain could be next, Trump said he might strike the complex “very soon.”
The regime’s survival campaign suggests Tehran is taking those warnings seriously. Distributing iodine and broadcasting fallout instructions points to growing concern inside Iran that the next phase of the conflict could target the deepest and most closely guarded corner of its nuclear program.
