CNN: Iran has buried and booby-trapped uranium tunnels amid fears of a U.S. raid

Iran has sharply intensified efforts in recent weeks to seal off and fortify access to its enriched uranium stockpile, according to a CNN report based on five U.S. intelligence sources. The report says Tehran deliberately collapsed tunnels and planted mines and explosives at site entrances after fears grew of a secret American military operation to seize the material.

The main intelligence assessment is that most of Iran’s highly enriched uranium, now at nearly weapons-grade 60%, is buried under destroyed tunnels at the nuclear facility in Isfahan in central Iran, with smaller quantities held at other sites. U.S. officials said access to roughly half a ton of enriched uranium has become far more difficult, dangerous and time-consuming than it was about a month ago, when Donald Trump publicly hinted he might order the U.S. military to raid the stockpiles.

Analysts cited in the report said Trump’s public remarks may have prompted Iran to rush to turn the strategic asset into a trap. The report also recalls that in mid-May the Pentagon prepared for a complex ground operation to seize the material, but canceled it at the last moment because the risk was considered too high.

The new fortifications complicate the emerging talks between the Trump administration and Tehran. The White House wants an agreement under which Iran would hand the uranium to the United States, where it would be destroyed and removed from Iran, as part of a broader effort to end tensions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to free navigation.

Experts warn the destruction itself may help Iran hide part of the stockpile. They say recovering the uranium would now require heavy excavation equipment and a dangerous demining operation, and that Iran could tell international inspectors some of the material is “not recoverable,” leaving it secretly available for later use.