Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer praised the weekend attack by the U.S. Air Force on Iranian nuclear facilities, but pointed out to Newsmax on Monday that not much is known about the 400 kilograms of enriched uranium the Iranians had at the sites.
Shaffer told "Wake Up America" that the armed forces "did a masterful job of hitting targets with precision." But he emphasized that the results of the battle damage assessment "is going to take a few days" to understand exactly what was the result of the attack.
Shaffer, who appeared with retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, said that "clearly, we hit and penetrated and destroyed some deep underground facilities [but] the residual radiation signature has not changed yet. What that means, I do not know."
Shaffer explained that "one of two things could have happened. The blast was so effective that it sealed the fissile material inside the mountain. Secondly ... there may be a search for missing material. The Iranians did understand we were coming, and there were vehicles at all three facilities prior to the attack, so the 400 kilograms [of enriched uranium] might still be out there."
He said that it would be important to track down the uranium, "which will be a big issue for the next few weeks."
Concerning Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil supply is carried, Shaffer pointed out that most of that oil goes to China, which supports Tehran.
"So if the Iranians start messing around with [the Strait] of Hormuz, China will see one-third of its daily supply of oil drop off," Shaffer said, concluding that the Iranian threat is only "bluster. I don't think they are going to do it."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.