- Despite U.S.-Israeli attacks on June 22, including bunker-busters and Tomahawks, Israeli officials believe some of Iran's 60 percent-enriched uranium remains intact and buried underground, possibly at Isfahan.
- Israel began preparing for direct military action against Iran in late 2024, citing an accelerated secret nuclear weapons project, especially after the targeted killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
- Israeli officials reject IAEA claims that Iran moved part of its uranium stockpile before the strikes, asserting instead that the material remains buried and inaccessible, even to the most powerful U.S. weapons.
- Initially skeptical, U.S. intelligence is now more closely aligned with Israel, acknowledging uncertainty over Iran's ability to rebuild, especially through dispersed and harder-to-detect operations.
- President Donald Trump insists the nuclear program was "obliterated" under Operation Midnight Hammer and says the U.S. is ready for peace, but also ready to strike again if Iran poses further threats.
Israeli intelligence has concluded that a portion of Iran's underground stockpile of highly enriched uranium may have survived the coordinated Israeli-American attacks last June, potentially remaining accessible to Iranian nuclear engineers.
According to a senior Israeli official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter, Israel had begun preparing for unilateral military action against Iran in late 2024, citing what was described as an Iranian "race to build a bomb" tied to a secret weapons project. The preparations intensified after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israeli forces, a move that prompted Iran to reportedly accelerate nuclear efforts.
But despite the devastating June 22 strikes, which included American B-2 bombers dropping 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles, a portion of Iran's 60 percent-enriched uranium is believed to be buried — but intact — under rubble at its Isfahan facility and possibly other sites. That level of enrichment is near-weapons grade and, if further enriched, could be used to build nuclear warheads.
Israeli officials claim they can detect any attempt to recover the buried material and are prepared to strike again, but the survival of any enriched uranium raises fears of a prolonged and covert Iranian effort to rebuild what was lost. (Related: Trump's Iran strikes backfire: Russia warns that Iran will likely be resupplied with nuclear warheads.)
While International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi believes some uranium was transferred out of Isfahan, Israeli officials argue nothing was removed and that the uranium remains deep underground, inaccessible even to America's most powerful weapons.
Trump declares Iran's nuclear program "crushed"
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and his national security team have firmly maintained that the Iranian nuclear program was "obliterated" and pushed back hard on media reports suggesting the damage was less comprehensive. Speaking earlier this week, Trump said he believes Iran is ready to engage in peace talks but warned that the U.S. remains fully prepared for further military action if provoked.
"I will tell you that in my view, I hope it's over. I think Iran wants to meet. I think they want to make peace, and I’m all for it. Now, if that's not the case, we are ready, willing and able," Trump said in response to a question if he thinks the Israel-Iran war is over.
Trump also insisted earlier that Iran's nuclear ambitions were crushed. "This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material, which it won't," he said during the NATO summit in The Hague.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed the sentiment, describing the damage to Iran's most hardened site, Fordo, as "devastating and irreversible."
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Watch this report discussing Houthi claims about attacking U.S. Navy destroyers in the Red Sea.
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