Exclusive: US military rushed to prepare ground mission to capture Iran’s uranium, but Trump paused it, sources say
By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — The US’ top general made a secret, rushed visit to US Central Command headquarters in Florida late last month to be briefed in person on plans for the US military to send ground troops into Iran to forcibly seize its highly enriched uranium, the key component necessary to produce a nuclear weapon, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The briefings were so urgent and sensitive that they required Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to rush from a meeting of senior NATO officials in Brussels back across the Atlantic to Tampa, Florida, on May 19, the sources said. The high-level and pressing nature of the briefings underscores how close the administration came to greenlighting the high-risk ground operation, sources said.
A Joint Staff spokesperson declined to comment about the preparations for a potential operation.
Caine then briefed President Donald Trump on the options for such an operation, one of the sources said.
But Trump hit pause after being warned it would likely prompt severe Iranian retaliation, extending the war and plunging the global economy into further turmoil, the sources said. Trump has also voiced concern about the potential for a significant number of US casualties, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The advanced planning for the operation came amid repeated statements by Trump that the US and Iran were approaching an agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz and conclude negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. On Thursday Trump said the US and Iran would soon be signing a deal, potentially over the weekend.
But the discussions around sending ground troops into Iran just last month show how close the US has come to massive escalation of the conflict.
“Lots of risk,” one of the sources familiar with the plans for the potential military operation said, adding it was not surprising Trump opted against giving the military the green light last month.
Tehran has also been plotting an economic “nuclear option” if negotiations with the US fail and the war resumes, three people familiar with the matter told CNN: getting the Houthis, the Iranians’ chief proxy force in Yemen, to close the Bab-al-Mandab strait — a key waterway and global trade chokepoint that has served as a shipping lifeline as the entrance to the Red Sea amid Iran’s months-long closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A senior administration official responded to a request for comment from CNN on Friday with a list of terms that Iran had allegedly agreed to as part of negotiations, including that its nuclear material be destroyed and removed, its nuclear program dismantled, the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a halt to Iran’s funding of terrorist proxy groups — and only afterward would it get sanctions relief.
Iran’s version of what it has agreed to is very different, according to Iranian state media, which said Iran would not commit to ceding management of the Strait of Hormuz and that any deal required the immediate release of $24 billion of Iran’s frozen funds.
Iran’s uranium
Securing Iran’s highly-enriched uranium stands out as one of Trump’s primary objectives that has not been accomplished to date, either through negotiations or military force.
While Trump has repeatedly dangled the possibility that the US might go in and forcibly seize the uranium, he’s been reluctant to move forward with an operation that could result in a large number of US casualties — something he is skeptical the American people would support.
Speaking to Fox News about another potential US military option that would likely lead to high casualties — taking control of the Iranian oil export hub of Kharg Island — Trump said Thursday that “I don’t know if America has the stomach for it.”
Despite the risks, a mission to seize Iran’s enriched uranium — particularly the 970 pounds that it has highly concentrated to near-weapons grade — has not been taken off the table entirely.
Trump’s frustration has been growing as Iran has stalled in committing to a deal that would see the country make significant concessions on its nuclear program, including willingly relinquishing its highly enriched uranium stockpile. That stockpile is spread out across several Iranian nuclear facilities, primarily the Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow complexes, and buried deep inside tunnels, sources told CNN.
Nuclear experts have expressed skepticism that a US military operation could even locate and verify all the uranium, much less safely and completely remove it under hostile conditions. The material is believed to remain in gas form, as it was at the time of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s last verification in June 2025, CNN has reported.
Iran shut out international nuclear inspectors the following month in the wake of joint US-Israel airstrikes on its facilities. Those strikes damaged nuclear facilities, but did not destroy all of the nuclear material, leaving it in underground tunnels, CNN has reported.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned in a recent interview that the existing stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program.
The US intelligence community is also confident it knows where all of it is thanks largely to continuous overhead surveillance, according to two sources. In addition to the highly enriched uranium, Iran has significant stockpiles of low-grade material that could be turned into a “dirty bomb” capable of inflicting significant damage, according to multiple sources briefed on the issue. Thus far negotiations have focused on the highly enriched uranium, which is closer to weapons grade.
Physically securing the uranium would require a significant US ground force, however, including hundreds of special operators, CNN has reported.
“It would be insanely difficult to fish through those tunnels and all the barrels,” one source said. “We’d have to set up a massive presence. Essentially, we’d have to invade.”
US military commanders have determined that such an operation would fall between “High to Extreme” on the “Acceptable Level of Risk” for special operations forces, according to a source familiar with the guidance, meaning the mission could result in a significant number of American casualties, even if successfully carried out.
Risks of Iranian response
If a ground operation to capture the uranium were launched, the risk of economic damage from the closing of the Bab-al-Mandab strait, one of the outcomes intelligence assessments have warned about, could be catastrophic to the world economy.
One source familiar with recent US intelligence assessments told CNN it is notable that the Houthis have not resumed large-scale attacks against US or other European vessels, but have said that any Israeli flagged or owned ships are fair game. Expanding the scope of potential targets beyond Israeli vessels would represent a serious escalation, the source noted.
The Iranians have only held back so far from enlisting the Houthis to take that step, the sources said, because they know it could derail ongoing peace talks.
But it remains a card Iran could play if the pursuit of a deal falls apart and the US resumes full combat operations — something Trump has been wary to do.
Iran’s standing army has been significantly weakened, so the biggest risk to US troops should Trump order an operation to extract the uranium would likely be booby-trapped tunnels where the material is stored, as well as surface-to-air and shoulder-fired missiles, the source said. Iran also retains a significant percentage of its drone and ballistic missile stockpile, CNN has reported.
Caine and other military leaders have previously raised concerns about the scale, complexity and potential for US casualties that could result from an extended military operation against Iran. He and others inside the Pentagon also warned, prior to the US launching its war on Iran, that a protracted military campaign would significantly impact US weapons stockpiles and military readiness.
Despite Trump’s past comments about taking the uranium, he was dismissive of the option on Thursday in comments from the Oval Office.
“Nobody’s getting close to it because it’s buried under a mountain.” Trump said.
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