U.S. National Security and Nuclear Nonproliferation

Axios reports that U.S. and Israeli officials have been actively discussing a potential special‑operations mission inside Iran to secure or neutralize roughly 450 kilograms of Iran’s 60%-enriched uranium, a stockpile U.S. intelligence says could be converted to weapons‑grade within weeks. According to four sources, options on the table include sending U.S., Israeli or joint special‑forces units—accompanied by nuclear experts, possibly including IAEA personnel—into fortified underground facilities in Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz once Iran’s conventional military is judged too degraded to mount serious resistance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a closed briefing that “people are going to have to go and get it,” and a U.S. official described two main choices: physically removing the uranium from Iran or diluting it on site. The article adds that U.S.–Israeli strikes last June buried the enriched material and destroyed nearly all of Iran’s centrifuges, and that the administration is also weighing a separate operation to seize Kharg Island, which handles about 90% of Iran’s oil exports. President Trump, asked aboard Air Force One about deploying ground troops, said they were possible "for a very good reason" and did not rule out using them later to secure nuclear material, underscoring how war aims may be expanding from air and missile strikes toward direct control of Iran’s nuclear assets.