E-Paper
Israel officials reveal how Iran may have outsmarted US before Trump's strikes
Two Israeli officials have told the New York Times that Iran had moved 400 kgs of uranium and other equipment from the Fordow plant before the US strikes.
The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant in Iran was one of the three nuclear facilities the US military struck on Sunday as it got directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict.
As US President Donald Trump announced the US military action on the Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan plants, he said that that nuclear sites were "completely and totally obliterated". Later, satellite images also showed grave damage to the Fordow plant and to the mountain south of Tehran where it is located.
However, two Israeli officials have told the New York Times that Iran had moved a significant amount of uranium and other equipment from the Fordow plant before the US strikes.
Uranium in 400 kg in quantity and enriched to 60 per cent purity, barely short of the weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent, was reportedly moved from the enrichment plant as the Trump administration sought time to decide if the US would send ground troops to Iran.
Even when the US strikes sparked radiation leak fears, Iran had said that the nuclear sites struck did not contain materials that cause radiation.
Besides, a satellite image from before the US airstrikes also showed trucks lined up outside an entry gate of the Fordow plant.
According to the NYT report, senior US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, has conceded that they were not aware of where Iran's stockpile of uranium was. Vance reportedly has said that the US would work towards ensuring that something is done with the uranium. "That's one of the things that we’re going to have conversations with the Iranians about," he told ABC.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, Dan Caine's remarks were also not in line with Trump's "completely and totally obliterated" claim for the nuclear sites.
The US officials only said that significant damage and destruction was caused, which is also what the Israeli military's initial assessment of the strikes showed.
Considered impenetrable by Israeli bombs, the Fordow plant was a primary target of the US military action. It can reportedly produce weapons-grade material for up to nine nuclear bombs in under a month.
The US used B2-stealth bombers that cost over $2 billion to release bunker buster bombs on the Fordow plant, which was long considered immune to Israeli bombs.
