In this ITV News explainer, correspondent Geraint Vincent breaks down the race to neutralise Iran’s missing uranium stockpile.
Deep beneath the rubble of Iran’s bombed nuclear facilities lies an estimated 440kg of near-weapons-grade uranium. Following massive US and Israeli airstrikes in June 2025, much of this vast radioactive stockpile is now thought to be entombed underground, and the Iranian government claims it has no plans to retrieve it.
With the material enriched to 60%—dangerously close to the 90% threshold required to create nuclear warheads—the United States military faces an unprecedented logistical nightmare. How do you secure nearly 1,000 pounds of toxic, radioactive material buried hundreds of feet beneath hostile territory?
In this explainer, we dive deep into the intelligence surrounding Iran’s hidden uranium. We explore the primary suspected subterranean locations, from the collapsed concrete tombs of Isfahan to the ultra-deep, bunker-buster-resistant ‘Pickaxe Mountain’ facility near Natanz.
We also examine the extreme military options currently being weighed by the Trump administration. Could elite US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) units like Delta Force pull off a subterranean ground raid using diamond drills and heavy excavators? Or is the safest option to inject chemical ‘poisons’ to permanently kill the nuclear material and seal the uranium in place?
If the Iranian regime collapses into political chaos, there are serious risks that this enriched uranium could fall into the hands of rogue elements or terrorist organisations. Join us as we unpack whether the US and its allies can successfully neutralise one of the greatest unresolved threats in the Middle East.
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