Report: Iran fortifies uranium stockpile with booby-trapped entrances
Collapsed tunnels and mined entrances have made access to Tehran’s highly enriched uranium far more dangerous, sources told CNN
Iran has sharply stepped up efforts to secure a stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium, collapsing tunnels and mining entrances to make the material harder to reach, CNN reported, citing five sources familiar with US intelligence.
The measures have reportedly made access to roughly half a ton of highly enriched uranium significantly more difficult and dangerous than it was only weeks ago, when President Donald Trump was publicly raising the possibility of a US military operation to seize it.
The reported fortifications could complicate US efforts to finalize an interim deal with Tehran. Under terms described by a senior US administration official, Iran would be required to hand over its enriched uranium, with the material destroyed and removed as part of a broader arrangement that would also reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end Iranian support for armed groups.
The precise terms of the emerging agreement remain disputed. US and Iranian officials have offered conflicting accounts, while a purported draft leaked to Iranian media on Friday drew an angry response from Trump.
Scott Roecker, who previously led the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nuclear Material Removal, was quoted by CNN as saying that if the reporting was accurate, the Iranian measures would “definitely complicate” efforts to retrieve the highly enriched uranium.
He warned that the fortifications could also give Tehran room to claim that part of the stockpile was inaccessible. “We wouldn’t have full confidence that Iran couldn’t retain access to it at some point in the future,” Roecker said.