Iran's uranium stockpile: What we know about its facilities after US strikes

Indian Express

5 hours ago

After days of debate over whether Israeli and US strikes damaged Iran's three key nuclear facilities, the fate of the country's enriched uranium stockpile remains a mystery.
While a CIA report confirmed 'significant damage' to nuclear facilities that has pushed the nuclear programme back by many years, there is still little to no information on the current status of Iran's enriched uranium stock.
At a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday (June 26), US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium in advance of the US strikes.
'I'm not aware of any intelligence that I've reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,' he said.
US President Donald Trump, echoing the defence secretary's statements, said that nothing was taken out of the site prior to the attack. In a post on Truth Social, Trump, referring to the Fordow nuclear facility, said, 'Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!'
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, also said that American intelligence agencies were watching the Iranian nuclear sites closely, 'and there was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strike.'
The clarification by top US officials comes after a US intelligence report prepared by the Pentagon assessed that the US strike on Iran's nuclear facilities on June 20 did not damage the core components of Tehran's nuclear programme, but has only set it back by several months.
Trump refuted the claims, standing firm on his stance, that the US strikes 'completely obliterated' the nuclear facilities.
He blamed his Democratic opponents, without any evidence, for leaking the intelligence report to US media. 'The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'They should be prosecuted!'
He also slammed CNN for its report suggesting that the US strikes had failed to destroy Iran's nuclear sites.
A CIA report, however, revealed with 'credible evidence' that Iran's Nuclear Program has been 'severely damaged' by recent strikes.
While the facilities were targeted, there is a little doubt whether Iran's entire enriched uranium stockpile was completely destroyed, and the country would struggle to produce more quickly.
Intelligence officials have assessed that Iran may have attempted to move its stockpile of enriched uranium out of Fordow in anticipation of an attack on its nuclear facilities.
There is no clear confirmation regarding which facility stored most of Iran's enriched uranium. Trump has said it was at Fordow, the site he claims was severely destroyed. Others argue it was at Natanz, while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said the majority of the stockpile was at Isfahan, where Iran maintains reactors and other facilities that utilise enriched uranium.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that Iranian officials had told his officials they planned to move the material if they believed it was under threat. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had also sent a letter to the IAEA Director General on 13 June, warning that Iran would 'adopt special measures to protect our nuclear equipment and materials'.
In the days leading up to the US strikes, there was evidence of vehicles transporting materials in or out of the Isfahan nuclear site.
Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed 'unusual activity' at Fordow, with a long line of vehicles queued outside the facility, according to Reuters. A senior Iranian source also told Reuters that most of the 60% highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the attack.
The IAEA Director General later said that a significant amount of the near-bomb-grade fuel appeared to remain under Iranian control. 'I don't know if they moved all of it,' he told the Financial Times, 'but the evidence points to their moving out a lot of it.'
The Financial Times, citing European intelligence assessments, also reported that Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact, as it was not concentrated at Fordow.
Iranian officials have suggested that the enriched uranium was indeed moved from Fordow prior to the US bombing of the plant and could now be hidden in unknown locations.
The newspaper, citing two people briefed on preliminary intelligence assessments, said European capitals believe Iran's stockpile of 408 kilogram of enriched uranium close to weapons-grade levels was not concentrated in Fordow at the time of last weekend's attack.
Over the years, Iran has stockpiled more than 8,400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, which is considered near bomb-grade. However, Tehran continues to insist its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
(With inputs from The New York Times, Financial Times, and Reuters)