*As US, Israel Desperately Hunt For New Location Of 400kg Near-Weapons Grade Uranium
Iran still has stocks of enriched uranium – which is used to make nuclear weapons – and ‘the game is not over’, sources close to the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told French news agency AFP Tuesday, June 24.
The location of a stockpile of 400kg of the material – enough to make up to 10 nuclear weapons – is unknown after the United States’ weekend bombing of three Iranian facilities.
The ‘missing’ uranium is 60 per cent enriched. At 90 per cent, it can be used in nuclear weapons.
Satellite photos and sources indicate that Iran most likely moved the uranium, and possibly some equipment to continue enrichment, to a secret location days before American B-2 ‘Spirit’ bombers dropped ‘bunker busters’ on Fordrow, Natanz, and Isfahan, causing significant damage and destruction.
Shortly after the attack, red flags were raised about the location of the uranium, with U.S Vice President JD Vance and senior officials privately admitting they do not know, at this time, where it is.
Israeli and U.S intel believes the material – packed in special crates, each small enough to fit in the boot of a car- was loaded on to trucks and taken to another underground site, possibly near Isfahan.
Two Israeli officials, who asked not to be named, admitted this was likely what happened.
However, Vance, speaking to Fox News, said he thought the uranium had never left Fordrow and now lies buried under thousands of feet of rubble and debris after the bombing.
Earlier, after Israel’s first wave of missile attacks (and before the U.S’ ‘bunker buster’ strike), Iran had threatened to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and insisted it would not be bullied into abandoning a nuclear programme that it has repeatedly said is for civilian use only.
‘ Taken Necessary Measures’
After the U.S strike, Iran said it had taken “necessary measures” to ensure the programme continues.
“We have taken necessary measures and are taking stock of the damage caused by the strikes,” Mohammed Eslami, chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in a statement aired on state television.
“Plans for restarting (the facilities) have been prepared in advance,” he said, underlining Tehran’s determination to continue despite U.S threats, “… our strategy is to ensure production is not disrupted.”
Does Iran actually have nuclear weapons, or weapons-grade nuclear material? Officially, no. Tehran has insisted its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.
But Israel disagrees and so does U.S President Donald Trump, who contradicted Tulsi Gabbard, his Director of National Intelligence, in insisting Iran is, in fact, building a nuclear weapon.
Trump also warned of more attacks if Iran does not agree to peace. “Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been totally obliterated. If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets…”
