President Donald Trump is considering sending U.S. forces into Iran to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium.
With no end in sight to his weeks-long war with Iran, the 79-year-old commander-in-chief is eyeing the operation as a path to a key goal—ensuring Iran can never build a nuclear weapon, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has not yet decided whether to give the order as he weighs the danger to U.S. troops, U.S. officials told the Journal.
The high-risk mission would potentially keep American troops on the ground for days or longer, but Trump remains generally open to it.
The president and some allies have privately suggested U.S. troops could seize the uranium in a focused mission without prolonging the war beyond the 4-6 week time frame that Trump has publicly outlined, a source familiar with the discussions told the Journal.
Trump has also told his advisers to make surrendering the uranium a condition for ending the war, according to a person familiar with Trump’s thinking.
The potential operation would carry serious risk, with U.S. forces likely having to fly under fire from Iranian drones and missiles to reach the two sites in Isfahan and Natanz, where the uranium is believed to be stored.
Once on site, combat troops would have to hold the perimeter while engineers with excavating equipment would have to sift through debris, scanning for mines and booby traps, the Journal reported, citing former U.S. military officers and experts.
A special operations team, trained to handle radioactive material in conflict zones, would then need to secure several truckloads of uranium—a process that could take days or even a full week.
“This is not a quick in and out kind of deal,” retired Gen. Joseph Votel, the former commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, told the Journal.
Trump claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program after ordering strikes against both sites last summer.
Trump appeared to hint at his next move on Saturday evening by urging supporters to tune into Fox News’ Mark Levin.
“Watch Mark Levin interview of Brilliant Marc Thiessen tonight at 8:00 P.M., on FoxNews. Will discuss the importance of hitting Iran, HARD!!! President DJT,” the president posted on Truth Social.
During the segment, Levin, a Trump ally, advocated putting boots on the ground in Iran to secure enriched uranium, the main material used for making a nuclear weapon.
“Why would we need troops on the ground? Well, there’s a lot of reasons—and we wouldn’t need 300,000 of them. It’s this uranium,” Levin said on his Life, Liberty & Levin show.
“If it cannot be destroyed, if it cannot be altered, we’ve got to get it for the reason I just said, you can make dirty bombs, and over time, you can still make sophisticated missiles,” he continued. “So you need to get to the uranium.”
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have repeatedly refused to rule out boots on the ground in the war. The arrival of 2,500 Marines and 2,500 sailors brings the American troop presence in the Mideast to more than 50,000, according to The New York Times.
Asked on Sunday evening whether he would put boots on the ground, Trump sidestepped the question, saying, “I just have lots of alternatives.”
He later said of Iran, “They’re going to give up nuclear weapons. They’re going to give us the nuclear dust. They’re going to do everything that we want to do.”
“But if they don’t do that, they’re not going to have a country,” he added.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the Pentagon for comment.
“It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Journal. The Pentagon didn’t comment to the publication, while a spokesman for U.S. Central Command also declined to comment.
