A prominent American research institute specializing in Iran’s nuclear activities has raised concerns this week about an underground site located in Iran’s Zagros Mountains that remains unexamined by international inspectors.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have not been granted access to this clandestine site, referred to as Pickaxe Mountain.

This heavily secured facility brings into question Iran’s commitment to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) established with the Trump administration. In response, the United States and Israel initiated Operation Epic Fury on February 28, 2026, aimed at undermining Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure.

Experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) suggest that halting operations at Pickaxe Mountain and permitting IAEA inspections would serve as a crucial step to gauge Iran’s readiness to end its longstanding evasive behaviors.

Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the group who covers Iran, North Korea, illicit trade, and nuclear issues, wrote on X: “Important update by us at @TheGoodISIS. The ongoing work at Pickaxe Mountain is deeply concerning. This work has continued steadily since at least 2020. In my view, this is a hedge by Iran in case negotiations fail — they will then have a nuclear facility in a late stage of construction. We assessed that Pickaxe is likely large enough to hold an enrichment plant.”

Iran has used facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan to enrich uranium, the key material for a nuclear weapons program.

Faragasso added, “If Iran is serious about negotiating, it should halt construction at Pickaxe Mountain as a token of good faith. But what can be expected from a regime as brutal and conniving as Iran’s?”

The institute posted a detailed analysis of new satellite imagery from late June 2026 showing continued activity at Pickaxe Mountain. 

The institute wrote that “at Pickaxe Mountain, vehicle activity can be seen on the roads leading to the open set of Western tunnel portals, indicating that construction inside the tunnel complex, as well as hardening of the tunnel entrance, are ongoing. The MOU signed between the United States and Iran requires that Iran maintain the status quo, which should prohibit construction at any nuclear-related facility, including Pickaxe Mountain.”

In late June, the IAEA declined to answer a detailed News Media query on whether it would seek access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility. According to the satellite imagery obtained by the institute, “at Natanz, little activity can be seen. The access points to the below-ground enrichment halls have not been repaired. 

“The personnel entrances remain destroyed, and vehicle entrances remain severely damaged. A single vehicle can be seen on the road outside of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which was destroyed in June 2025 but was later covered by Iran.”

The institute also reported, “As of June 29, 2026, there is no observed activity at Esfahan. The tunnel portals remain backfilled with dirt.” ISIS tracked developments at the Fordow site, buried inside a mountain north of the holy Islamic city of Qom.

“At Fordow, as earlier reported by the Institute, between May 10 and May 18, Iran added passive defensive measures in the form of earthen/rocky mounds and other objects on the roads leading to the tunnel entrances. The alternating placements of the piles/objects are very precise, which creates a series of chicanes, indicating they are not intended as obstructions but rather to prevent rapid ingress and egress by any vehicle toward the tunnels.”

The institute added, “The June 21 Vantor image shows that the objects along the road remain there. The tunnel portals also remain backfilled with dirt” at Fordow.

News Media sent questions to the State Department and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.

In Washington DC, the highly anticipated National Independence Day Parade, meant to mark America’s 250th anniversary, has been called off due to an intense heat wave enveloping the region.

The announcement of the parade’s cancellation was made on Friday evening via Facebook. Organizers expressed their regret, highlighting the ‘extreme heat’ conditions affecting the capital.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has released an extreme heat warning for Washington DC and nearby regions. This warning is set to last from Friday at 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday. For further details, you can view the official NWS report here.

The NWS cautions that the heat index is anticipated to reach a dangerously high level, ranging between 110 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

NBC4 has reported that Washington DC experienced a record-breaking temperature of 112 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday. Further coverage can be accessed by visiting their site here.

The National Independence Day Parade was set to feature performers from across the US marching down Independence Avenue. It was scheduled for 10.30am Saturday.

Organizers of the parade explained that it was canceled after ‘extensive consultation’ with the DC government, the National Park Service and Freedom 250.

They wrote that the decision was made with ‘careful consideration of the safety of our participants, spectators, and staff as the top priority.’

The National Independence Day Parade is celebrated annually as part of Fourth of July celebrations in DC.

It was set to be live streamed on Facebook and C–SPAN before the sudden cancelation credited to the blistering hot weather.

It is not the only event in DC that has been impacted around the holiday weekend.

On Friday, the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, which is set to run until July 10, was temporarily closed until 5pm.

The DC Fire and EMS Department treated multiple people for ‘heat–related illnesses’ at the fair on Friday, BBC News reported.

A spokesperson for the department told the outlet that the people had been treated due to the ‘record–breaking temperatures.’

The DC fire department added that they were expecting a ‘very busy weekend’ for the Fourth of July, though that was not necessarily atypical compared to other years.

‘We know that there are going to be heat–related illnesses on and off the Mall, and we encourage our residents and visitors to take precautions if you’re going to be out in the heat,’ the department told the Washington Post.

President Donald Trump is among those to have noted the sweltering temperatures expected Saturday, teasing an extensive address despite that.

‘On July 4th, it’s going to be approximately 107 degrees out, and I’m going to go, and I’m going to make a really long speech,’ he said on Wednesday.

‘Just to show that I can do anything,’ Trump added. ‘It’s gonna be 107.’

Trump is scheduled to speak at 9.45pm Saturday at the Salute to America event, according to the Freedom 250 website.

The President’s address will be followed by what is being touted as the world’s largest fireworks display. That is currently scheduled for 10.30pm.

More than 850,000 fireworks will be launched from ten sites across DC, according to Politico.

Freedom 250, which is organizing the event, has urged guests to utilize the free hydration stations on site and drink plenty of water.

Air–conditioned cooling buses and cooling tents will also be available during the day, the organization said Friday on X.

Guests have been asked to arrive at the Washington Monument no more than one hour before 5pm in order to minimize prolonged exposure to the suffocating heat. 

In total, more than 185 million Americans were under heat alerts due to the triple-digit temperatures on Friday, according to CBS News.

This Fourth of July could be the hottest one on record for millions, prompting safety concerns, as well as other cancelations.

In Philadelphia, the city’s Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade was scrapped because of the heat, according to FOX 29.

More than 50 marching bands and about two dozen floats were meant to participate before the cancelation.

Friday’s highs in Philadelphia topped 100 degrees, with a feel like temperature around 112.

New York City hit its hottest temperature ever recorded at midnight on Friday, according to FOX Weather. 

New York’s electric grid was under heavy strain because of the heat, with energy giant Con Edison asking some customers in Queens and Brooklyn to conserve energy.  

Neighboring New Jersey saw all of its counties placed under an excessive heat warning on Friday, according to WUSA9.

Most of Massachusetts and Connecticut were also given the same warning, while huge parts of Rhode Island and Maryland could also expect to be blasted by the heat.

In Delaware, the Bethany Beach Independence Day parade was canceled due to the heart, WDEL reported. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to the National Independence Day Parade for further comment.

A fascinating new exoplanet, which has the potential to support life, has been found and is being dubbed Earth’s “next-door neighbor.” This discovery may represent a significant advancement in the quest to locate extraterrestrial life.

Paul Robertson from the University of California, Irvine, expressed enthusiasm in a statement on Tuesday, noting, “This one’s exciting,” and highlighting its close proximity by saying, “it’s one of our closest cosmic neighbors.”

Robertson, who leads the study published in The Astrophysical Journal, elaborated, “Though twenty-five light years may seem distant, considering the Milky Way spans about 100,000 light years, this makes it practically next door.”

The exoplanet, named “GJ 3378b,” is about twice the size of Earth. It exists within the “Goldilocks zone,” a region around a star that provides conditions necessary for maintaining liquid water on the planet’s surface.

A key factor in determining if GJ 3378b can host life is whether it has an atmosphere. Positioned on what’s known as the “cosmic shoreline,” this exoplanet’s capability to retain an atmosphere depends on its gravity in relation to the radiation it encounters.

“If you scale the Earth down to the size of an apple, its atmosphere would be about as thick as the skin of the apple,” said Robertson.

“That’s just enough to maintain the kinds of surface pressures where you can have liquid water,” he explained.

“It’s enough that there’ll be breathable air, and it provides maybe a little bit of protection from the harsh radiation environment of space.”

More observatories are required to determine if a given planet has any kind of atmosphere, which could “justify further research looking for biosignatures, liquid water or other signs of life that require both an atmosphere and the right amount of heating from the host star,” said Gogod James, a UC Irvine student in Robertson’s group who helped study the size of GJ 3378b.

NASA has plans to construct the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which is slated to launch in the next 20 years or so. 

If completed, astronomers will begin to search for chemicals in atmospheres that could have been produced by life. 

“I think that’s just too much fun,” said Robertson.

In a heated exchange at the United Nations Security Council this week, U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz staunchly criticized Iran’s attempt to dismiss serious accusations. The Iranian representative faced Waltz’s rebuke following claims that council members had propagated misinformation regarding Iran’s recent assaults on neighboring Gulf countries.

Standing firm, Waltz turned to Iranian diplomat Amir Saeid Iravani, asserting, “Let me remind you where you are. This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations Security Council. You will not silence this body.”

The confrontational meeting arose in the wake of drone and missile strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait, incidents that were directly linked to Iran. These attacks were perceived to be in retaliation for the latest U.S. airstrikes against the nation, prompting urgent discussion among Security Council leaders.

Countering Waltz’s accusations, Iravani dismissed the need for the council’s emergency assembly, accusing the U.S., Bahrain, and other member nations of fabricating allegations for political gain.

“Once again, the representative of the United States has resorted to lies and disinformation against Iran in a desperate attempt to justify the US’s unlawful acts of aggression,” Iravani said.

He also rejected the “unfounded accusations made by certain Western members of the Council and the representative of Bahrain.”

“Instead of addressing the root cause of the current crisis, they have ignored the unlawful aggression committed against Iran and sought to shift blame onto the victim,” he added. “Their double standards and hypocritical behavior have deprived them of any credibility to lecture others.”

In a post on X, Waltz reiterated his position.

“Iran will not silence us on our own soil,” he wrote. “That might work in Tehran, but not in the UN Security Council. We will tell the truth.”

During the exchange, Waltz held up what he said were images of the aftermath of the Iranian attacks, including a family whose home in Bahrain was destroyed by a Shahed drone, a hotel full of tourists that was also hit and a building used by first responders that Waltz said was deliberately targeted.

“Are they lying?” Waltz said of the victims of the attack. “Is this hypocrisy? Is this what this council is here to denounce today? I ask the representative, are these lies? … I’d say not.”

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain’s minister of foreign affairs, said that, since Feb. 28, the island nation has been subjected to 808 attacks comprising 203 ballistic missiles and 605 armed drones.

“These attacks deliberately targeted civilian facilities, critical infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in the deaths of three innocent civilians and injuries to 465 others,” he said, disputing Tehran’s claim that its aggression is directed solely against military objectives.

Washington and Tehran have repeatedly accused each other of violating a fragile ceasefire agreement. On June 27, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran violated the deal.

The exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman last week and the U.S. military retaliated, officials said.

“It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”