Recent US intelligence reports reveal that Iran may be able to recover its main stockpile of highly enriched uranium buried inside a nuclear facility in the city of Isfahan, despite strikes that targeted the site during the past year.
According to the New York Times, informed officials confirmed that Tehran was able to find a very narrow access point that allows access to this stockpile, which opens the door to the possibility of recovering or transferring it later, despite the security measures and international control imposed on the Iranian nuclear program.
The data circulating indicates that the stored uranium is in the form of gas stored inside special containers, which makes the transfer process more complex technically. However, estimates remain unclear regarding the speed with which Iran could carry out any potential transfer of this stockpile.
In contrast, American officials confirm that intelligence agencies are continuously monitoring the site and have advanced capabilities to detect any movements that may indicate an attempt to transfer nuclear materials. They also stressed that Washington is closely monitoring the situation and is ready to act if any suspicious activity related to the Iranian nuclear stockpile is detected.
The White House had previously justified the strikes that targeted Iranian facilities by saying that Tehran had accumulated large quantities of enriched uranium, to the point that it was very close to possessing the technical capability to produce a nuclear weapon.
In this context, Steve Witcoff, the special envoy who conducted indirect negotiations with Tehran, stated during an interview with Fox News that Iran possesses about 460 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent. He explained that this high enrichment rate can be raised to 90 percent, which is the level required to produce a nuclear weapon, within a short period that may not exceed a week to ten days.
This data revives the international debate about the Iranian nuclear program, at a time when Western concerns are increasing about the acceleration of Tehran's enrichment capabilities, and the potential repercussions of this in terms of political and security implications in the region and the world.
