Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued an ultimatum to Iran Wednesday, urging the nation to give up its enriched uranium — or President Trump will launch another “Operation Midnight Hammer” to seize it.
While the two-week cease-fire deal between the US and Iran does not address the nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium in Tehran’s possession, Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday that the US will secure the atomic material no matter what.
“We’ll get it. We’ll take it, we’ll take it out,” Hegseth said of the enriched uranium, vowing to complete one of President Trump’s main goals of the war.
“Or if we have to do something else ourselves, like we did Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity,” he added, referencing the US-Israeli joint airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities last year.
“But what’s clear… is they’ll never have a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one.”
Along with threatening another series of airstrikes against Iran, Hegseth suggested that the US could send Special Operations troops into Iran to seize the uranium.
“If we have to, we can do it by any means necessary,” he said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran’s uranium stockpile is the president’s “red line.”
“This is on the top of the priority list for the president and his negotiating team as they head into these next round of discussions,” she told reporters.
“This is a red line that the president is not going to back away from, and he’s committed to ensuring that takes place. We hope it will be through diplomacy.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which serves as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said Iran had about 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium before last year’s 12-Day War.
The uranium stockpiles are believed to be housed in Iran’s underground facilities in Isfahan and Natanz, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
Isfahan, located 270 miles south of Tehran, is believed to be where the majority of Tehran’s 60% enriched uranium is located, with Natanz likely holding additional caches of uranium in its fortified Pickaxe Mountain facility.
Iranian officials have maintained that the uranium, believed to be enriched at 60%, remains buried under the rubble following last year’s airstrikes.
Trump suggested that the US could work together with Iran to “dig up and remove” the uranium, which experts warn could be used to develop a handful of nuclear weapons if it reaches the 90% enrichment threshold.
“There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear ‘Dust,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“It is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!). Nothing has been touched from the date of the attack,” he added.
