US special operations forces were preparing for a possible mission to seize enriched uranium from Iran\u2019s fortified nuclear facilities, the New York Post reported, citing a source familiar with military planning and US security experts.<\/p>\n
Trump says if Riyadh wants a nuclear deal, it must join the Abraham Accords<\/p>\n
The operation could involve thousands of troops securing nuclear sites, clearing damaged or booby-trapped entrances and establishing protected routes to an airfield. A smaller team of special operators would then enter the facilities and remove the nuclear material, according to the report.<\/p>\n
Joseph Rodgers, deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Post that a military operation could become the most likely option if negotiations failed to produce an agreement on Iran\u2019s uranium stockpile. He described any such mission as exceptionally complex and dangerous.<\/p>\n
Talks on Iran’s nuclear program: UN nuclear chief: Inspections of sites “will happen”<\/p>\n
Potential targets included the damaged Fordo and Isfahan facilities, as well as the underground Pickaxe Mountain complex near Natanz, where Iran was reported to have transferred hundreds of centrifuges.<\/p>\n
Iran had reinforced the Isfahan site and placed mines and explosives in its tunnels in anticipation of a possible raid, it is understood. US forces would need to maintain control of the surrounding area and airspace while construction crews reopened access points and transported the uranium.<\/p>\n
Richard Goldberg, a former US National Security Council official, said a raid on Pickaxe Mountain could instead focus on infiltrating the site, placing explosives and withdrawing, if airstrikes alone were considered insufficient to destroy the facility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US special operations forces were preparing for a possible mission to seize enriched uranium from Iran\u2019s fortified nuclear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-559648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}