US military exposed for planning to seize Iran's enriched uranium, Trump did not approve

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 13 - According to U.S. media reports on the 12th, the U.S. military had developed an operational plan in May to prepare for the deployment of ground troops into Iran to seize nearly half a ton of high-enriched uranium stock, which was not approved by President Trump.

CNN reported, citing two sources, that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an emergency return from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to the U.S. Central Command in Florida on May 19 to receive a briefing on the plan to seize Iran's enriched uranium. According to the plan, the U.S. military intended to seize enriched uranium buried deep within underground tunnels at Iran's nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.

Milley subsequently reported the plan to Trump. After receiving warnings that such an operation could "provoke strong retaliation from Iran, prolong the conflict, and exacerbate global economic turmoil," Trump did not approve it at the time.

According to a source familiar with the plan, such an operation carries "significant risks," and it was not surprising that Trump refused to "give the green light." According to U.S. military assessments, the "acceptable level of risk" for the operation was rated as "high" to "very high," meaning that even if successful, it would result in a large number of U.S. military casualties.

In another report, CNN stated that several sources familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments indicated that in order to prevent the U.S. military from seizing enriched uranium, Iran had been focusing on strengthening defenses over the past few weeks, blocking nuclear facility tunnels and laying landmines at the entrances. Compared to a month ago, the difficulty, risk, and time required for the U.S. military to seize enriched uranium have all increased.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated on the 12th that Iran insists that if there is a need to deal with the existing high-enriched uranium stock, the only acceptable method is to implement "dilution processing" within Iran, rather than transferring it abroad.