Washington — The Trump administration is formulating strategies and options to secure or extract Iran’s nuclear materials as a U.S.-Israel-led military campaign against Tehran enters a more uncertain phase.
The timing of any operation remains unclear. A White House spokeswoman stated that it’s the Pentagon’s responsibility to prepare for such an eventuality.
President Trump, in a Truth Social post, said: “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran.”
The conflict has evolved from degrading Iran’s conventional military capabilities to focusing on ensuring Iran is no longer capable of producing a nuclear weapon. As of last summer, Iran had amassed some 972 pounds of 60%-enriched uranium.
U.S. officials have said the Trump administration has not ruled out trying to retrieve Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium as part of the current military campaign. However, any mission would be arduous and potentially risky.
The U.S. intelligence community assessed last spring that Iran was not trying to build a nuclear weapon, but in recent years, Iran has enriched uranium to 60%, beyond levels necessary for most non-military uses. The IAEA has said Iran is the only non-nuclear weapons state to enrich uranium to that level.
Since the war’s onset, Mr. Trump has listed ensuring that Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon as one of the war’s goals.”