In the wake of last month's U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, a senior Israeli official says that some of Tehran's supply of enriched uranium survived the American blitz and could potentially be accessed by the Islamic Republic's nuclear scientists.
According to the New York Post, the official told reporters Wednesday that Israel's assessment is that part of the 60% enriched uranium at the Isfahan site remains accessible, having apparently been buried too deep to be destroyed. The situation is reportedly similar at the other facilities that were hit by U.S. missiles.
The official added that the Jewish state continues to monitor Iran's movements to determine if it's trying to access the remaining stockpiles. Doing so would be very difficult, they said.
The Israeli military has been keeping tabs on Tehran's nuclear program for years, the official said, but Iranian efforts to create a nuclear weapon ramped up following the September killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
According to the official, the Islamic Republic at one point considered sending a nuclear weapon armed with 90% enriched uranium to the Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack Israel with.
Operation Midnight Hammer involved B-2 stealth bombers dropping bunker buster bombs on the Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordo nuclear facilities, as well as submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. Israel had carried out airstrikes ahead of the U.S. operation that resulted in the deaths of senior Iranian military leaders and at least 14 of the country's nuclear scientists.
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took a victory lap following the covert military operation, with both men claiming victory over the Iranian regime's nuclear ambitions.
"Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform June 22. "Obliteration is an accurate term!"
"The white structure shown is deeply imbedded into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame," the president continued. "The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!"
"The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the president and the successful mission," Hegseth said June 25.
That same day, the White House shared a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission that found the Fordo facility was rendered "inoperable" by the American attack.
"The devastating U.S. strike on Fordo destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable," the statement read.
"We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, have set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years," the statement continued. "This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material."
Despite satellite imagery showing trucks lined up outside Fordo days ahead of the bombing, both U.S. and Israeli officials have insisted that the Iranians were not able to move any enriched uranium to other facilities prior to the strikes.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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