Iran seals uranium storage and plants mines amid fears of US operation - CNN
Kyiv • UNN
Tehran has mined the entrances to storage facilities and destroyed tunnels containing half a ton of uranium. This occurred following Trump's statements regarding a possible seizure of stockpiles by the US military.
In recent weeks, Iran has sharply intensified efforts to seal its stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium, deliberately collapsing tunnels and booby-trapping entrances with mines, CNN reports, citing five sources familiar with U.S. intelligence, according to UNN.
Details
Reaching the approximately half-ton of highly enriched uranium is now much more difficult, dangerous, and time-consuming than it was just a month ago, when U.S. President Donald Trump publicly signaled that he might order the U.S. military to seize it, sources said.
The Iranians' new fortifications add an extra layer of complexity to the Trump administration's proposed deal with Tehran to remove and destroy its uranium, and the move raises questions about who would undertake the dangerous task of its extraction, the publication writes.
Even for the Iranians themselves, according to several sources, extracting the enriched material will now be difficult and hazardous. It would require heavy earthmoving equipment and demining efforts, which are complex and risky.