The Pentagon is contemplating what could become “the most sophisticated operation in military history”  to seize Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, the New York Post reported on Saturday, citing sources. A source familiar with the matter told the outlet that the plan would send thousands of ground troops to storm heavily fortified nuclear sites, with a small team of elite commandos tasked with the actual retrieval. The exact whereabouts of Iran’s enriched uranium – which could be key to creating nuclear weapons – are unclear. Tehran has four major nuclear facilities at Fordo, Natanz, Isfahan, and Pickaxe Mountain, with the former three coming under US-Israeli strikes last year. Out of an estimated 440kg of enriched uranium, roughly 200 kilograms are believed to be stored in deep tunnels outside Isfahan, with additional quantities thought to be at Natanz. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in March that Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains buried “under the rubble” of the facilities hit by US and Israeli strikes, adding that Iran currently has “no plan” to recover or dilute it. As for Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified complex carved deep in the granite bedrock, it was spared in last year’s strikes because it was still under construction and largely empty at the time. However, the facility has since been reportedly reinforced, with the US and Israel suggesting that Iran may have moved centrifuges – and potentially uranium – deeper underground there, though the site is not believed to be fully operational yet.…Read more