CNN: Iran is sealing sites holding enriched uranium

U.S. intelligence sources told CNN that Iran has sharply intensified efforts in recent weeks to seal the locations where enriched uranium is hidden, apparently out of fear that the United States could launch a ground operation to seize the material. The report comes shortly after CNN said Washington had been on the verge of such an operation.

According to the report, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine received classified briefings at U.S. Central Command and then presented the plans to President Donald Trump. Trump ultimately canceled the operation after being warned it could trigger severe Iranian retaliation, prolong the war, shake global oil markets, and put many American troops at risk.

A senior U.S. administration official said the emerging agreement includes a clause calling for the destruction of the enriched uranium and its removal from Iran. U.S. estimates say most of the stockpile is in collapsed tunnels at the Isfahan nuclear complex, while additional material is being kept at other sites across Iran.

Trump said days ago that only the United States and China have the technology needed to dig through the rubble and retrieve the uranium. Earlier this month he told reporters that removing the enriched uranium from Iran would take at least two weeks. Nuclear removal experts, however, warned that Tehran could use the situation to claim it cannot access all the uranium buried under debris and secretly retain part of it. Scott Rooker, who headed the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear materials removal office from 2017 to 2021, told CNN he would worry Iran might argue some of the material is in an inaccessible location and keep access to it for the future.