Donald Trump is weighing a daring mission to snatch Iran‘s enriched uranium stockpiles amid fears about what could happen if rogue actors get to it first.
The president has flirted with deploying US soldiers on the ground in Iran in recent days, although he said on Saturday that he would need a ‘very good reason’ to make the escalatory move.
Insiders warn that troops may be needed to seize control of Iran’s remaining enriched uranium – the main ingredient in building a nuclear weapon – amid fears it could fall into the hands of terrorists or another nation such as North Korea, Pakistan or a Gulf state.
Military sources say Trump may wish to avoid a full-scale invasion and would rather send a small contingent of special forces to carry out a quick strategic operation.
Sources familiar with the options on the table told Semafor that Trump may be considering an audacious mission to send Delta Force, the team which was used to captured Venezuela’s dictator, to infiltrate, destroy or seize the nuclear material from Iran’s enrichment sites.
Last June, Trump said strikes ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow and Isfahan, burying much of the nation’s nuclear program underground.
But analysts still widely believe that some sites are safely holding enriched uranium and the New York Times reported it may have as many as 20 scuba-tank-like canisters each with 55lbs of the substance.
Andrea Stricker, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies nonproliferation program, warned that if the enriched uranium is not secured, the nightmarish potential for it to fall into the wrong hands remains open.
Donald Trump is reportedly weighing a daring mission to snatch Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles amid fears that a rogue nation could turn the tables and obtain it first
Sources claim the president is mulling sending Delta Force to infiltrate, destroy or seize the nuclear material
‘Terrorists would be a concern for radiological sources because of the dirty bomb risk,’ she told the New York Post.
‘You can bomb a lot of it, but you can’t bomb all of it. It’s one reason the US needs to try to get a compliant regime,’ Iran expert Andrew Apostolou of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Center told the Post.
Apostolou said while a variety of scenarios could still play out in Trump’s war with Iran, the risk of loose uranium could open the door to a worst-case outcome.
‘The danger is loose nukes,’ he said.
He said an Iranian insider may see trading their secret hiding places or key information as the perfect way to flee the regime.
‘When you have that kind of knowledge and there’s a lot of bad actors out there looking for it, you have a survival ticket,’ he said.
The expert warned that rogue nations such as North Korea or even a neighboring Gulf state, which have been bombarded by Iran in retaliatory strikes in the past eight days, could look to capitalize on the moment.
To seize the enriched uranium, military insiders say Trump may use Delta Force for a precision operation inside the nation, the same unit used to snatch Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
On Saturday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he hadn’t ruled out deploying ground troops in Iran, saying: ‘Maybe we will do it later’
Footage from Tehran on Saturday evening showed apocalyptic scenes across the capital after US and Israeli forces struck an oil refinery
On Saturday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he hadn’t ruled out deploying ground troops in Iran.
‘At some point maybe we will,’ Trump said. ‘We wouldn’t do it now. Maybe we will do it later.’
It comes as the conflict in the Middle East threatened to spiral out of control on Saturday night.
A fresh wave of airstrikes hit Tehran, engulfing the Iranian capital in fireballs as footage showed apocalyptic scenes after US and Israeli forces hit an oil refinery.
Hours later, the US Embassies in Baghdad, Iraq and Oslo, Norway were both attacked.
The first of the embassies to be attacked was in Baghdad, where Iraqi officials blamed ‘rogue groups’ for sending a barrage of rocket fire at the building.
Footage appeared to show a US Army C-RAM interceptor system shooting down the rocket fire, sending a stunning red laser across the skies as it took down the munitions.
A security source told AFP that four rockets were launched toward the embassy. Three were reportedly intercepted but one fell in an open area in the embassy’s airbase.
There have not been any reports of injuries so far. Non-emergency staff were ordered to leave the embassy four days ago amid the escalating tensions.
Hours later, an explosion was reported outside the US Embassy in Oslo at 1am local time.
The explosion caused ‘minor injuries’ and damage to the consular entrance of the embassy, Oslo Police Chief Michael Dellemyr told NKR.
The source of the explosion in Oslo or who was responsible is unclear, police said
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani indicated the attack in Baghdad was launched by a rebel group, saying that he ordered his security forces to find the perpetrators of the ‘terrorist act.’
‘The perpetrators of these attacks are committing an offence against Iraq, its sovereignty, and its security. These rogue groups that operate outside the framework of the law in no way represent the will of the Iraqi people,’ Shia al-Sudani said.
The attack marked the first such strike on Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government offices and diplomatic missions, since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran eight days ago.
Hours earlier, Iran sent another barrage of retaliatory strikes at its Gulf neighbors, with debris from an intercepted missile striking the luxury 23 Marina skyscraper in Dubai.
In a separate incident in Dubai, one man was killed after debris from an ‘aerial interception’ fell on his car, and Dubai Airport was evacuated following an Iranian drone attack.
The strikes were launched while Iran’s de facto leader Ali Larijani told state media that the nation would not cede to Trump’s demands for ‘unconditional surrender’, and he vowed that the United States ‘must pay the price’ for killing late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
In a furious speech on Saturday night to state media, Larijani said: ‘Americans must know that we will not let them go.’
