Mar 30, 2026, 9:09 a.mMar 30, 2026, 9:09 a.m
According to a media report, US President Donald Trump is considering a military operation in Iran to recover around 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. Trump is currently examining how dangerous this would be for the ground troops required.
US President Donald Trump is apparently planning a military operation in Iran to recover uranium.Image: keystone
That reported that «Wall Street Journal» citing US officials. The president has not yet made a decision.
Trump is fundamentally open to the idea, as such a military operation could help achieve his central goal – namely to prevent Iran from ever producing a nuclear weapon. Such a military operation would be a complex and risky mission that U.S. forces would likely have to conduct in the country for several days or longer.
Before Israel and the USA carried out air strikes on Iran in June last year and bombed three nuclear facilities, the country had more than 400 kilograms of uranium with a purity of 60 percent, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). More than 90 percent is needed to build nuclear weapons.
Uranium suspected in underground tunnels
According to IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, the highly enriched uranium is likely to be located mainly in underground tunnels and storage facilities at the Isfahan and Natan nuclear facilities, both of which were bombed by the US and Israel last June.
Trump encouraged his advisers to pressure Iran to agree to hand over the material as a condition for an end to the war, the Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed source as saying. Trump made it clear in talks with allies that the Iranians could not keep the uranium. He also talked about seizing it by force if Iran did not agree to this at the negotiating table.
On Sunday evening (local time), Trump told reporters that Iran must comply with the US’s demands, otherwise “they will no longer have a country,” the Wall Street Journal reported. Regarding Iranian uranium, he said: “They will give us the nuclear dust.”
There have been reports for days about a possible ground offensive by the US military in Iran. Although Pakistan is trying to mediate, Washington and Tehran have not yet started direct negotiations to end the war. (dab/sda/dpa)