WASHINGTON
The Trump administration is planning options to secure or extract Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, with discussions centering on deploying the elite Joint Special Operations Command for the mission, CBS News reported Friday, citing multiple people briefed on the matter.
No decision had been made, one source told CBS, and the timing of an operation remained unclear.
A White House spokeswoman said preparations were the Pentagon’s responsibility, while that agency did not respond to a request by the news outlet for comment.
The operation would be extraordinarily complex. Much of Iran’s uranium stockpile, estimated at around 450 kilograms (992 pounds) enriched to 60%, lies buried beneath nuclear sites already bombed in last summer’s US strikes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed recently that the material was “under the rubble,” with no immediate plans to retrieve it.
Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had warned of the extreme hazards involved. The material exists as uranium hexafluoride gas in pressurized cylinders, making it highly dangerous to handle. “It would be a very challenging operation for sure,” he said, while acknowledging it was not impossible.
The CBS report adds to earlier accounts from CNN and Axios, both of which reported that the administration had been weighing retrieving the stockpile and permanently eliminating Iran’s nuclear weapons potential.
