400kg of uranium missing after US strike on Iranian nuclear sites, JD Vance confirms

Indian Express

6 hours ago

A 400kg stockpile of uranium—enough to build up to 10 nuclear weapons—is unaccounted for following last week's US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, United States Vice President JD Vance told ABC News. The uranium, enriched to 60 per cent, was stored across Iran's key sites and is now believed to have been moved ahead of the strike.
During the conversation, Vance said that he thought the Iranian nuclear sites were 'severely damaged or obliterated', but added he was 'not exactly sure'.
Vance said the Trump administration will engage with Iran in the coming weeks regarding the 900 pounds (approximately 400kg) of highly enriched uranium that went missing after last week's US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Speaking to ABC News, Vance said, 'We're going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel, and that's one of the things that we're going to have conversations with the Iranians about.'
He confirmed that the key objective of the operation was to target the Fordow nuclear facility. 'That was the objective of the mission, to destroy that Fordow nuclear site and, of course, do some damage to the other sites as well. But we feel very confident that the Fordow nuclear site was substantially set back, and that was our goal,' Vance told the broadcaster.
Enrichment to 60 per cent brings the uranium close to weapons-grade, which is around 90 per cent. While it isn't currently usable in a nuclear bomb, analysts say it represents a powerful bargaining chip for Iran if or when nuclear deal talks with the US resume.
Israeli officials told The New York Times that Iran may have moved the uranium stockpile and equipment to a secret location before the attack. Satellite images taken before the US strikes showed a convoy of 16 trucks outside the Fordow nuclear facility, a heavily fortified site built inside a mountain and considered nearly immune to missile attacks.
Those images led Israel to push for US support. The United States responded by deploying B-2 Spirit bombers armed with GBU-37 'bunker buster' bombs, which were dropped on Sunday morning on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Post-strike satellite photos showed significant damage to all three facilities, but the trucks had vanished.
It remains unclear what was moved and where, but US and Israeli intelligence believe the uranium and key research materials were relocated to another underground facility near Isfahan, Iran's ancient capital.
Rafael Grossi, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed that the agency last inspected the site a week before the strikes. Grossi has called for inspections to resume immediately, warning the UN Security Council that continued military escalation threatens diplomatic solutions.
'It is essential the IAEA resumes inspections as soon as possible,' Grossi said. 'This indispensable work must not be delayed.'
Iran has repeatedly claimed its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israel has long argued otherwise. Tel Aviv warned that Tehran was nearing a 'point of no return' and could soon assemble a nuclear weapon.
Following the attacks, Iran threatened to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Deputy Foreign Minister Takht Ravanchi dismissed speculation that the program was abandoned, saying, 'No one can tell us what to do…'
The US narrative has been less consistent. A CNN report following Israel's first wave of missile strikes said US intelligence assessed Iran was not actively building a nuclear bomb and was still about three years away from having one. The strikes, according to CNN sources, only set Iran's program back by a few months.
However, Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence, reversed her earlier assessment in which she told Congress Iran wasn't pursuing weapons. On Saturday, she said Iran could produce nuclear weapons 'within weeks,' a shift that followed President Donald Trump calling her initial assessment 'wrong.'
Trump had given Iran a two-week deadline to sign a new nuclear safeguard deal, but acted earlier after intelligence confirmed Israel could not neutralise the facilities without US military support.
'We're not involved in it (but) it's possible we could…' Trump told ABC Sunday morning, just hours before the US strike, urging Iran and Israel to 'reach an accord before it is too late.'
After the mission, Trump declared the operation a success.
'Iran's nuclear program has been completely and totally obliterated,' he said, referring to the 'bunker busters' and a barrage of Tomahawk missiles used as decoys in what was dubbed Op Midnight Hammer—a 37-hour operation led by seven B-2 bombers flying radio silent from Missouri.