Trump wants Iran’s uranium. But can anyone really get it out?

Status of bunkered Iranian stockpiles

Trump administration has reiterated that Iranian authorities need to hand over the highly enriched uranium, which is over 400 kg but it’s buried deep in the ground after US-Israel launched strikes at the storage facilities in the Islamic Republic in June last year.

Proposed extraction and destruction plan

The US President, while referring to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles, said in a Truth Social post that American military would extract it “at the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust,” adding that it would be destroyed later on.

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Isfahan enrichment facility in Iran after being hit by Israeli airstrikes. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

Trump wrote, “At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains.”

Detailing the possible plan for extracting the enriched uranium, Trump said that B2 bombers would be deployed to extract the material which is “buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains” and the stockpile would be destroyed either in Iran or the United States.

“Thanks to our beautiful B-2 Bombers and their brilliant pilots, and down blend and destroy it, whether in Iran, or the United States,” the US President said.

Challenges in execution logsitics

A CNN report, citing a senior Trump administration official, reported that the interim peace deal includes uranium being “destroyed on-site and then taken out of the country.”

But the official acknowledged that it’s “going to take a little bit of time to figure out” exactly how the things will proceed, even if the stockpile has to be destroyed.