Trump weighs secretive elite unit deployment to seize Iran’s nuclear stockpile: Report

What does the plan involve?

The plan is reportedly centred on the possible deployment of forces from the Joint Special Operations Command, the secretive elite military unit which was reportedly behind Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s swift capture in January.

A White House spokeswoman told the agency that it is the Pentagon’s job to make preparations.

How much nuclear material does Iran possess?

Iran reportedly possesses appoximately 450 kilograms of 60 per cent-enriched uranium – convertible to weapons-grade (90 per cent enriched) uranium within weeks. The amount is enough for more than 10 nuclear bombs.

Mixed signals

Barely hours before the report emerged, US President Donald Trump said he was considering “winding down” military operations and that the White House is “very close to meeting its objectives” in the war.

However, thousands of service members remain deployed across the Middle East with 2,500 marine on the way and the Pentagon has sought an additional $200 billion from Congress to fund the conflict.

A recurring topic

The White House’s messaging on the conflict has been vague, with no clear objective, rationale, or status update — a reason behind Washington’s rift with NATO allies in recent weeks.

However, Iran’s nuclear materials and the overthrow of the Islamic regime have made recurring appearances in Trump administration’s rationale over the course of the war.

The conflict began on February 28, the day following the third round of US-Iranian nuclear negotiations concluded in Geneva. The Trump administration had been pressing Tehran for months to abandon its enrichment programme — a longstanding cause of concern for Israel and a major point of contention with the West.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who mediated the talks, made its details public, revealing that Tehran had conceded to several of Washington’s demands.

These include zero stockpiling of nuclear material, down-blending its existing 60 per cent enriched stockpile to irreversible fuel, and allowing US inspectors access to Iranian nuclear sites. The US and Israel went ahead with the attack anyway, launching strikes aimed at the regime’s top leadership and nuclear facilities.

Iran’s nuclear programme targeted

The US and Israel have repeatedly targeted Tehran’s nuclear facilities in the current conflict.

Last June, after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog — declared that Iran breached its non-proliferation obligations, Israel launched an aerial assault on Iran, targeting its nuclear facilities and military leadership.

Prominent figures of Tehran’s nuclear programme and military chain of command are killed in the 12-day conflict in the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas. Israel dubbed it Operation ‘Rising Lion’.

During that period, the Trump administration unilaterally bombs three nuclear sites, incapacitating Iran’s enrichment programme.

In September, in view of the IAEA’s declaration, the UN imposed crippling ‘snapback’ santions on Tehran for violating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which had capped Tehran’s uranium enrichment at 3.67 per cent.

The move compounded inflation and triggered a cost-of-living crisis in Iran that culminated in the largest anti-regime protests since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in January, this year. The uprising was supressed using brutal means with thouands of fatalities reported.