Iran’s missing 400 kg of enriched uranium raises alarm after US strikes

Iran’s missing 400 kg of enriched uranium raises alarm after US strikes

Nearly two weeks after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran’s key nuclear sites, American intelligence agencies are still struggling to determine what happened to Iran’s most dangerous asset: its 880-pound (around 400 kg) stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, just short of bomb-grade, the New York Times reported.

While officials confirm that the physical infrastructure at major sites like Fordo and Natanz was severely damaged, the question of whether Iran moved the uranium before the strikes remains unresolved. Intelligence reports are contradictory, and even within Iran’s leadership, sources suggest there is confusion over how much of the fuel remains under Iranian control.

Trump insists uranium was destroyed—but doubts remain

US President Donald Trump and senior White House officials have publicly claimed that Iran did not manage to remove the uranium in time. “Nothing was taken out of facility,” Trump posted on his platform, arguing that moving the material would have been “too dangerous” and “very heavy.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that view, saying US intelligence had found no indication that the stockpile was relocated prior to the bombing.

Yet officials inside the intelligence community are not so sure. Multiple sources confirmed that assessments remain inconclusive and that Iranian officials themselves appear to hold conflicting beliefs about the fate of the stockpile. “The intelligence is messy,” said one official briefed on the matter.

Evidence suggests Iran may have moved some material

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has long warned that Iran was likely to move its enriched uranium if it believed a strike was imminent. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said inspectors were told the material was stored in mobile containers small enough to fit into a car trunk.

Grossi noted that satellite imagery and other indicators suggested movement at facilities in Isfahan just before the missile attacks began. “It would have been a breach of common sense to leave it all in one place,” Grossi said this week. “The evidence points to their moving out a lot of it.”

European intelligence sources have echoed that assessment, though they caution that their findings are preliminary and the final location of the uranium is still unclear.

Damage to Iran’s programme is real—but not complete

There is widespread agreement among Western officials that Iran’s ability to enrich uranium has been substantially degraded. The attacks reportedly destroyed a key “conversion facility” in Isfahan, where uranium gas is turned into metal—a critical step in building a nuclear weapon.

Centrifuges at Fordo, essential to purifying uranium to weapons-grade levels, were likely rendered inoperable. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the NATO summit in The Hague that these blows would set Iran’s programme back significantly.

Still, officials warn that destruction of physical sites is not the same as neutralizing a country’s nuclear potential. “They are obliterated today, but they can reconstitute,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, emphasizing that the uranium itself was never part of the target list.

If Iran retained fuel, a covert bomb effort is still possible

If even part of the stockpile survived and was relocated, Iran could attempt to build a crude nuclear weapon in a secret location—especially if some nuclear scientists also survived the strikes. This worst-case scenario could leave Iran only months away from building a bomb, despite major setbacks to its broader programme.

US Representative Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, warned that the success of the strikes may ultimately hinge on the fate of the uranium. “Obliterating the sites means nothing,” he said, “if the Iranians moved enough 60% uranium, centrifuges and other weaponization tools to build a bomb at some possibly unknown location.”

For now, the intelligence community continues to sift through satellite data, intercepted communications, and inspector reports. But with conflicting information and a nuclear program built for concealment, the world may not know for weeks—or months—how close Iran still is to the bomb.