A military operation to seize Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium would require “the largest special forces operation in history,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing US and Israeli security experts. When American and Israeli fighter jets bombed three of the Islamic Republic’s key nuclear sites last June, the regime was believed to have had some 440 kilograms of 60 percent-enriched uranium — a short step away from weapons-grade material, enough for an estimated ten nuclear bombs.
Another almost 200 kilograms, at 20% enriched, were also believed to be in the regime’s possession. Weapons-grade uranium is 90%-enriched. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said last week that around half of the 60%-enriched uranium was stored in a tunnel complex at the Isfahan nuclear site. A report earlier this month said the US believes there is a “very narrow access point” through which the material could potentially be retrieved.
Seizing the uranium amid the war would require a major operation, which former NATO commander James Stavridis told the Journal could be “the largest special operations forces in history.” The daily, citing former military officials, reported that upward of 1,000 military personnel would have to be present on-site. Combat troops would need to secure perimeters while engineers dug through tons of debris while checking for mines and booby traps, the newspaper reported. To deliver the equipment to the site and move the recovered material out of the country, a local airfield would be required, and if none was available, a makeshift airfield would have to be set up as part of the operation, the report said. (Read More)
