Did Iran outsmart United States? American officials claim Iran might have moved 400 kg of uranium before the strikes
A day after US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran's nuclear programme was 'completely and totally obliterated' by airstrikes, senior officials admitted they didn't know where Iran's near-weapons-grade uranium was currently located.
At a press briefing on Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine avoided President Trump's bold claims that they completely destroyed the nuclear sites. They said early reports showed 'severe damage and destruction' at the three sites hit by Air Force B-2 bombers and Navy Tomahawk missiles.
Satellite images of the main target — Iran's Fordo uranium enrichment plant — showed multiple deep holes caused by a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs dropped by the United States. Early reports by Israeli militaryshow the site was badly damaged but not completely destroyed.
However, two Israeli officials said, as reported by NYT, that there is also enough evidence to show Iran had moved equipment and uranium from the site in recent days. Moreover, due to Trump's recents threats they had removed 400 kilograms, or roughly 880 pounds, of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity. That is just below the 90 percent that is usually used in nuclear weapons.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had informed the UN inspectors that his team last saw the fuel about a week before Israel started its attacks on Iran.. But he said on CNN that 'Iran has made no secret that they have protected this material.'
On questioning whether he meant that the fuel stockpile — which is stored in containers small enough to fit in about 10 car trunks — had been moved, he replied, 'I do.'
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance told ABC News, 'We are 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.' However, he noted that Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon had been seriously weakened because it no longer had the machines needed to turn the uranium into working bombs.
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