Iran Could Recover Some Enriched Uranium Buried Deep At Isfahan, Israel Says

A senior Israeli official cited in the BBC and NY Times has said that intelligence indicates much of Iran’s enriched uranium is buried at Isfahan, which was struck by US missiles during “Operation Midnight Hammer” on June 22.

The official appears to have been part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s delegation to Washington this week, which involved several visits to the White House and meetings with President Trump. The words somewhat contradict the Trump admin position that everything was utterly destroyed - and this is coming from a close ally.

The official described, as paraphrased by the BBC report, that “Iran may still be able to access enriched uranium stored beneath one of the three sites targeted by U.S. airstrikes last month.”

“In a briefing with American reporters, the official noted that while retrieving the uranium at the Isfahan facility would be very challenging, any attempt by Iran to do so would likely trigger further Israeli military action.”

Israel’s assessment currently indicates that the June US-Israeli attacks set back the Islamic Republic’s program by two years. Other foreign officials, including in Europe, believe it could just be a matter of months.

The White House has remained adamant that the enriched uranium stockpiles were completely “obliterated” – a word repeatedly used by Trump himself.

Iran’s president has conceded that while sites were “severely damaged” it remains that the Iranians cannot access stockpiles buried under the rubble. But hawks and critics will point to this potentially being a ruse:

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that while the three targeted Iranian sites were “destroyed to an important degree”, parts are “still standing”.

“Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared, and there is nothing there,” Mr Grossi said.

In an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson published earlier this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Pezeshkian said that the facilities were “severely damaged”.

“Therefore we don’t have any access to them,” he said, adding that a full assessment is impossible for now.

Meanwhile the NY Times has further cited the same Israeli official to claim that Iran ramped up nuclear activity after September of last year:

The senior official also said that Israel had begun moving toward military action against Iran late last year after seeing what the official described as a race to build a bomb as part of a secret Iranian project. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

The official said Israeli intelligence picked up the nuclear weapons activity soon after the Israeli Air Force killed Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon. That observation prompted the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to prepare for an attack with or without U.S. help.

A slew of other outlets have also picked up on the statements by the unnamed senior Israeli official…

‘Parts of Iran’s stockpile’ of enriched uranium ‘SURVIVED airstrikes’ last month — NY Post

Iran’s nuclear engineers could access it, claims ‘senior Israeli official’

Includes the 60% enriched uranium at Isfahan and other sites pic.twitter.com/7QFdqtNPgt

— RT (@RT_com) July 10, 2025

Of course, it is impossible to vet these claims, and the statements are being issued by a country which is in an official state of war with Israel, so they should be assessed with the necessary critical context and lens.