The US administration is secretly discussing how to remove nuclear material from Iran and deploy an elite unit
Washington is preparing plans for a military operation aimed at seizing Iran’s highly enriched uranium, US media reports said on Saturday.
CBS quoted insider sources as saying that the plans revolve around assigning the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to this task.
The sources added that a final decision hasn’t yet been made on the possible process of controlling the stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and that the timing of its implementation is still unclear.
CBS also quoted other US officials who preferred to remain anonymous as saying that several options are being evaluated, including the deployment of US troops inside Iran.
One option involves deploying troops to Iranian ports or to small islands in the Gulf, with the aim of securing navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the officials said.
Other options, according to US officials, include seizing Iran’s highly enriched uranium, as well as imposing control over Iran’s oil facilities to limit its economic resources.
The sources stressed that none of these options include a large-scale military deployment as happened in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In response to previous allegations that a ground operation was planned in Iran, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: “It’s the Pentagon’s duty to prepare as many options as possible for the commander-in-chief, and that doesn’t mean that the president has made a decision on this… President Trump doesn’t currently plan to send ground troops anywhere”.
