President Donald Trump said the U.S. would "take" Iran’s enriched uranium if necessary — raising questions about how American forces could physically secure the material after strikes on nuclear sites.
"Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we're going to get the dust back. We'll get it back. Either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it," Trump said at the White House Monday, referring to Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles.
The comments also come after high-stakes negotiations between the United States and Iran in Pakistan over the weekend ended without a deal, with disputes over uranium enrichment and control of nuclear material at the center of the impasse.
With diplomacy stalled, a key challenge remains: airpower can damage nuclear facilities, but physically locating, securing and removing enriched uranium would require a far more complex operation.
Iran is believed to possess a significant stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, near weapons-grade — material that could be further refined for use in nuclear weapons if not brought under control.
Analysts say securing the material itself would likely require forces on the ground.
"If the U.S. wants to secure Iran’s nuclear materials, it’s going to require a massive ground operation," Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, told Fox News Digital.
Davenport said the highly enriched uranium believed to be stored at Isfahan appears to be deeply buried and contained in relatively mobile canisters. Securing it would likely require locating the full stockpile, accessing underground facilities and safely extracting or downblending the material.
"It’s not even clear the United States knows where all of the uranium is," she said, noting that the mobility of storage containers raises the possibility that some material could be moved or dispersed.
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"Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we're going to get the dust back. We'll get it back. Either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it," Trump said at the White House Monday, referring to Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles.
The comments also come after high-stakes negotiations between the United States and Iran in Pakistan over the weekend ended without a deal, with disputes over uranium enrichment and control of nuclear material at the center of the impasse.
With diplomacy stalled, a key challenge remains: airpower can damage nuclear facilities, but physically locating, securing and removing enriched uranium would require a far more complex operation.
Iran is believed to possess a significant stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, near weapons-grade — material that could be further refined for use in nuclear weapons if not brought under control.
Analysts say securing the material itself would likely require forces on the ground.
"If the U.S. wants to secure Iran’s nuclear materials, it’s going to require a massive ground operation," Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, told Fox News Digital.
Davenport said the highly enriched uranium believed to be stored at Isfahan appears to be deeply buried and contained in relatively mobile canisters. Securing it would likely require locating the full stockpile, accessing underground facilities and safely extracting or downblending the material.
"It’s not even clear the United States knows where all of the uranium is," she said, noting that the mobility of storage containers raises the possibility that some material could be moved or dispersed.
Trump continues Iran blockade as peace talks near
The U.S. military is enforcing a blockade on Iran on Wednesday as Washington hosts historic peace talks between Lebanon and Israel.
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