Israel believes that Iran may recover enriched uranium buried at one of the three facilities hit by U.S. forces last month. These developments come amid rising tensions following “Operation Midnight Hammer,” carried out on June 22.
In a press briefing in Washington, a senior Israeli official, who requested anonymity, said that intelligence indicates a large portion of enriched uranium is buried in Isfahan, one of the sites struck by U.S. submarine-launched cruise missiles.
However, he emphasized that recovering this material would be extremely difficult, and that any Iranian attempt to retrieve it would expose the operation and provoke new Israeli strikes, according to the BBC.
On the other hand, U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that the U.S. strikes “destroyed” Iran’s nuclear facilities, although U.S. intelligence agencies do not fully agree.
“As President Trump has said many times, Operation Midnight Hammer completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear sites,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement to American media. “The whole world is safer thanks to his decisive leadership.”
However, a leaked preliminary report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency gave a more cautious assessment, stating that while the sites in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan were heavily damaged, they were not completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to deny any intention of producing nuclear weapons, insisting that uranium enrichment is solely for peaceful purposes.
The Israeli official speaking in Washington concluded by saying that their assessment is that Iran’s nuclear program has been delayed by two years as a result of the operation.
