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Exclusive | US mulls plan to snatch enriched uranium from Iran's nuclear facilities: 'most sophisticated op in history'
It’s the nuclear option.
American Special Operations forces are waiting in the wings to launch the “most sophisticated operation in military history” to seize Iran’s enriched uranium from heavily fortified nuclear sites.
“I hate to say it, but I think the most likely way to get rid of Iran’s nuclear material, at least what they currently have, is a military operation because the negotiations aren’t going anywhere fast,” said Joseph Rodgers, deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The deeply complex operation would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran’s nuclear facilities — navigating boobytraps, utilizing construction crews, and maintaining a large defensive blocking force surrounding the sites — a source familiar with military planning told The Post on Friday.
A Special Forces operation that would snatch the uranium out of Iran would be “the most sophisticated operation in military history,” according to an expert. USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20)
From there, a small team of special operators would conduct the actual retrieval — a “highly dangerous” process, the person said.
“I think this would be one of the most, if not the most,
sophisticated operations in military history,” said Rodgers.
“This would be a logistically heavy and difficult operation in a contested environment. Iran’s military is pretty destroyed, but they’re still more sophisticated than the Cubans that were guarding Maduro.”
The group of special operators could include SEAL Team 6’s Silver Squadron, the 2nd Ranger Battalion, and the Army’s 21st Ordnance Company, according to a report from plugged-in independent outlet The High Side.
The 21st Ordnance Company would be responsible for handling and transporting the
whatever quantity of enriched uranium out of facilities from the mostly destroyed Fordo facility and the severely damaged Isfahan facility, according to the report.
The
IAEA reported in 2025 that Iran had upwards of 20,000 pounds of enriched uranium.
The remotely located and well guarded Isfahan nuclear facility has been outfitted with boobytraps in recent weeks as the Iranians prepare for a potential invasion seeking to confiscate enriched uranium. Satellite image ©2026 Vantor via AP
“You need to create a secure perimeter around all of the sites that you’re trying to go in and grab the material from. That would require ground forces to secure a perimeter and then create a secure convoy route to the airstrip,” said Rodgers.
US military crews would have to dig out the destroyed entrances of the sites while
holding off attacks from the Iranian military.
“So how long can you sustain that and still be able to exfiltrate all of your forces?” said Richard Goldberg, who served as director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction for the White House National Security Council in the first Trump administration.
The mission would further require complete control of a corridor of airspace that would allow the military to fly to a secure location.
Iran has been preparing for an attack on the Isfahan facility.
A member of the 21st Ordnance Company (pictured) would
supposedly be tasked with grabbing the uranium at the sites in Iran. 20th CBRNE Command
“We have seen reports of Iran hardening the facility at Isfahan, booby traps being laid, and potentially perimeter forces being stationed,” said Goldberg.
“There is no element of surprise at the moment. The targets are fixed. We know where they are. The Iranians know where they are.”
Iran has placed mines and explosives in the tunnels of the Isfahan facility in anticipation of a raid on the facility, according to a
CNN report last month.
The facility at Pickaxe Mountain in Natanz is now allegedly housing hundreds of Iranian regime centrifuges. DigitalGlobe/Getty Images
Pickaxe Mountain has emerged as a new target after it was reported that Iran transported hundreds of nuclear centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear enrichment location in the last month.
“We don’t know how many centrifuges are down there. Would they be looking to actually disassemble, destroy, bring them out? I mean, more likely, if you had to do a special operations mission inside Pickaxe Mountain the reason you would do that is you don’t think you can collapse the facility by airstrike,” Goldberg said.
The determination on whether airstrikes would be sufficient relies on US intelligence community knowledge on the schematics and weak points of the building — much like the bunker busters which targeted the Achille’s heel airshaft of the heavily fortified Fordo, according to Goldberg.
“That’s a destroy mission,” said Goldberg. “If you were to try to get into the facility, you’d be seeking to collapse the facility.”
Unlike the Isfahan and Fordo, the US could potentially see quick success in Pickaxe.
“Pickaxe Mountain, potentially, could be like the Maduro raid,” he said of the operation that arrested the Venezuelan ex-dictator Nicolas Maduro in the presidential compound of capital city Caracas.
“Because you are infiltrating, you’re setting explosives, and you’re getting out,” said Goldberg.
Exclusive | US mulls plan to snatch enriched uranium from Iran’s nuclear facilities: ‘most sophisticated op in history’
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