“In Iran, we couldn’t send a team in to do this unilaterally without great risk,” Weber said. “You would need to set up in the middle of the country a secure perimeter. It would probably take thousands of U.S. troops to secure the facility while our experts excavated the HEU that’s located inside deep tunnels at a place called Isfahan.”
Cecelia Vega reported on the Isfahan nuclear facility: “Under this mountain, international inspectors say most of Iran’s HEU is stored in scuba tank sized containers. It’s believed those containers are in tunnels so far below ground, America’s bunker busting bombs may not be able to reach them.”
“Satellite images show in the weeks leading up to this current war, the Iranians blocked the tunnel entrances with dirt. Two weeks ago, images showed roadblocks. Nuclear analysts say it suggests Tehran is concerned about a U.S. or Israeli raid on the facility,” she said. “970 pounds of 60% highly enriched uranium. What can you do with that?”
“That is enough material for if you enrich it just a little bit more, for ten to eleven nuclear bombs,” Bunn said. “It’s not like Iran hasn’t thought about the possibility that we might do this. But U.S. Special Forces have been training for deep underground facilities of one kind or another for a long, long, long time.”
Former Energy Department official Scott Roecke said: “I’ve never seen it done without cooperation… But I would go in a heartbeat.”
“It’s high risk. You have to occupy territory. You have to confront. You have to force your way in so all those risks are inherent in that operation but we can do it,” Harward said. “That’s what our military does. When we went into Afghanistan, we built a runway in the desert and we brought in C-17’s.”
“The most prevalent threat is their abilities then to respond with drones, kinetic drones, maybe whatever’s left in their inventory of missiles. That’s your real threat to your time on the ground and the force,” he said.
Asked if he would expect casualties, former Admiral Hardward said: “Sure, you have to plan for that.”
