The news was reported by Bloomberg and Axios on Sunday, at the beginning of the second week of attacks and counterattacks in the Middle East. Sources say this is one of several options being studied by the Trump administration
Donald Trump is evaluating the option of sending special forces on the ground in Iran in order to seize the regime’s enriched uranium, which allegedly, according to the US president, is close to the level needed to produce nuclear bombs.
The information was released this weekend by three anonymous diplomats, with the same news citing four sources with knowledge of the administration’s discussions.
As Axios reports, any operation to gain control of the enriched material would require US and/or Israeli troops on the ground to access heavily fortified underground facilities in the context of the war that the US and Israel decided to launch without prior notice just over a week ago.
Trump has claimed over the last few months, even before ordering the first attacks on Iran, that the objective of this war is to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons; according to the secretary general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, although inspections are necessary to ensure that the enriched uranium is exclusively for domestic purposes.
The US president’s argument also contradicts information from his own administration last June, at the end of the so-called 12-Day War, when it was assured that attacks coordinated with Israel against uranium enrichment facilities had “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear program.
The possible operation on the ground – which is not certain whether it would be an American, Israeli or joint mission – involves, according to the sources cited by Axios, the regime’s seizure of material that could be converted to war-grade in a matter of weeks.
In a meeting with lawmakers in Congress last Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been asked about the safety of Iran’s enriched uranium, responding that “someone is going to have to go get it”, without specifying who.
Speaking to Axios, an Israeli defense official said that Trump and his team are “seriously” considering sending special operations units to Iran on specific missions, without specifying which ones. An American official says the Trump administration debated two options: completely remove the material from Iran or send nuclear experts to dilute it. in loco.
This mission would likely involve special operators alongside nuclear scientists, possibly from the AEIA. Two of the sources cited by Axios say that these two alternatives are part of a broader menu of options that were presented to Trump before the start of the war, on February 28.
On Friday, it had been reported that Trump discussed the idea of sending a small contingent of American troops to Iran for “specific strategic purposes”, and also reported that, among the options for Iran that the administration is analyzing, are special operations against nuclear facilities.
