US Considering Deployment of Special Forces to Secure Iran's Uranium

Operation Under Review with Iran

The United States is considering deploying special forces to Iran in order to secure Iran's highly enriched uranium.

According to foreign media outlets such as Bloomberg on March 8 (local time), the United States and Israel have discussed a special operation to secure Iran's highly enriched uranium.

The objective of the operation is to secure 450 kg of uranium enriched to 60% that Iran possesses. Currently, the amount of uranium held by Iran, if further refined, would be enough to produce approximately 11 nuclear warheads. Iran also possesses more than 8,000 kg of low-enriched uranium, which could also be highly enriched if enrichment facilities are restored.

Bloomberg explained that after the United States and Israel attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in June of last year, it became much more difficult to track Iran's uranium, as there is a high possibility that the highly enriched uranium was moved to another location. At the time, President Donald Trump determined that attempting to secure Iran's uranium was too risky and did not proceed with the attempt.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently detected continuous activity taking place outside a tunnel built on a mountainside near Isfahan, just weeks before the airstrikes. A diplomat familiar with the IAEA told Bloomberg that it is highly likely at least some of the 441 kg of highly enriched uranium stored at this facility has been moved.

A U.S. official stated that both the possibility of completely removing the uranium from Iran and the option of diluting its enrichment level on site are being discussed, and that scientists affiliated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) may participate in the operation. However, Axios reported that the actual operation is likely to be carried out only if it is determined that the Iranian military's response capabilities have been significantly weakened.

It has not yet been determined whether the operation will be conducted by the U.S. military, the Israeli military, or as a joint mission. It has also been reported that within the United States, there are concerns about significant technical and military challenges in the process of securing the uranium.

When asked aboard Air Force One if the military might be deployed to secure nuclear material, President Donald Trump replied, "At some point, maybe we'll do that. We're not aiming for that yet. We're not going to do it right now. Maybe we'll do it later," thus not ruling out the possibility of such an operation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.