Iran's Ghost Uranium: 400kg Disappears After US Strikes, Raising Spy Fears | DETAILS

Following US "bunker buster" strikes, 400kg of 60 per cent enriched uranium, enough for 10 nuclear bombs, is unaccounted for in Iran. US VP JD Vance confirmed the critical material's disappearance, fueling global fears and raising urgent questions about its new location.

400kg Disappears After US Strikes (Photo: Social Media)

A menacing 400-kilogram cache of 60 percent enriched uranium, enough potentially to build a maximum of 10 nuclear weapons, has gone missing in the wake of last week's US "bunker buster" attacks against three central Iranian nuclear facilities. US Vice President JD Vance told American broadcaster ABC News that the missing material exists, heightening fears of Iran's nuclear intentions.

Reports, including those of Israeli officials quoted in The New York Times, indicated Iran might have relocated the massive stockpile, as well as some machinery, days prior to the horrific US strike. Satellite photographs taken prior to the US attack revealed a procession of 16 trucks parked outside the Fordow nuclear facility, an installation constructed deep within a mountain and regarded as largely immune to conventional missile strikes. These pictures led Israel to call on the US to send its B-2 "Spirit" bombers and GBU-37 "bunker busters" on Sunday.

The powerful bombs targeted Iran's Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities. Post-attack satellite imagery confirmed extensive damage to all three sites, but the trucks previously seen at Fordow were conspicuously absent. While the exact contents and destination of the moved material remain unclear, US and Israeli intelligence strongly suspect it was relocated to another underground storage facility near the ancient capital of Isfahan.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world nuclear watchdog, said the missing uranium was last inspected only a week prior to Israel's first strikes against Iran. Last week, Grossi forcefully appealed to the United Nations Security Council about the "essential" need for IAEA inspectors to get back to their key work in Iran as quickly as possible. He warned that further military escalation would only postpone this "indispensable work" and sharply reduce the chances of a diplomatic solution to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Iran's Nuclear Intentions: Contradictory Storylines

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Yet Israel's rationale for its recent missile strikes revolved around assertions that Tehran was approaching a "point of no return" in its supposed quest for nuclear weapons. After the Israeli attacks, Iran threatened to leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the keystone of the global system intended to prevent nuclear proliferation. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Takht Ravanchi, strongly dismissed suggestions of giving up on the program and declared, "No one can tell us what to do."

The US account of Iran's status as a nuclear weapons state has nonetheless been subject to some discombobulation. Last week, a CNN report, published after Israel's first missile strikes, quoted US intelligence saying Iran was not actively seeking nuclear weapons and was at least three years away from having the capability to make one. The intelligence further indicated that Israel's missile strikes had only delayed Iran by a few months, thanks primarily to the deeply buried location of central research facilities such as Fordow. However, a top official has allegedly informed CNN that Iran has all the ingredients required for a nuclear weapon.

Adding to the confusion, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard seemed to contradict her own previous testimony before Congress, when she had asserted that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons. On Saturday, she amended her evaluation, positing that Iran might make them "within weeks." This change followed President Donald Trump publicly rejecting her previous intel as "wrong."

President Trump had previously given Iran a two-week deadline to agree to a new nuclear safeguard deal. However, he initiated the US strikes after intelligence confirmed that Israel alone could not effectively neutralize all Iranian facilities without American assistance.

"We're not a part of it (but) we could possibly." Trump said Sunday morning on ABC, just hours before the US strike, calling on Iran and Israel to come to an agreement "before it is too late." Following the successful attack, Trump stated Iran's nuclear program was "completely and totally destroyed" using the "bunker busters" and decoy Tomahawk missiles, celebrating the 37-hour military campaign by seven B-2 bombers from a Missouri air base.