A New Report Shows a Flurry Of Activity At a Suspected Iranian Nuclear Site. Trump Issued a Stark Warning.

President Donald Trump warned Iran not to "get cute" after reports of a flurry of activity in a suspected nuclear site buried deep underground.

"We notice there's a little activity at ‌Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard," Trump said at the midterm Republican convention.

The warning came after the Center for Strategic and International Studies released a study where analysts said satellite imagery construction has increased and is "likely" aimed at being a safe haven for the country's nuclear program.

The report details a "clear three-phase activity signature across the five key points of interest and the roads connecting them, indicating a site that has shifted from active excavation toward probable internal construction and continued exterior reinforcement."

The document goes on to detail that there is also a "hardening of the portal accesses, paving of the internal road network, reinforcement around access areas, and the flattening and removal of excavation spoil."

Another report July noted that Israeli intelligence believes Iran has moved thousands of nuclear centrifuges beneath the mountain during the current war.

The Wall Street Journal detailed back then that officials told U.S. counterpart their assessment shows the move took place in the past fall after the war.

Pickaxe mountain was not targeted last year and has not been hit in this year's war either, according to The Times Of Israel.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi recalled earlier this year that Iran said in 2021 that it intended to "have nuclear activity" in the mountain.

CSIS analysts note that the assessment can't confirm or refute Israeli intelligence claims that Iran moved the centrifuges inside the facility. However, they believe that current evidence "suggest the underground facility is not yet capable of enrichment work, if that is the intended purpose."

"Further analysis of daily activity would be needed to establish the site's pattern of life beyond its current construction footprint," the document adds.

Despite the fact that the facility is deeply buried inside the mountain, Trump had already threatened to "take out" Pickaxe mountain earlier this year.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, reported Iran to the UN Security Council for the first time in decades over failure to cooperate with a long-running investigation about uranium traces found in undeclared sites.

The Associated Press noted that 23 countries in the watchdog's 35-member board voted in favor of the resolution. Eight additional countries opposed it and China, Russia and Niger opposed it. The remaining member didn't vote because it was in arrears, that is, late on payments.

The move, the outlet noted, had been under consideration for over a year and after the IAEA board determined Iran was in noncompliance with its nonproliferation obligations. Officials believe the traces could help prove that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran has rejected all allegations and claims its nuclear aspirations are peaceful.