Uranium reserves become uncertain due to US and Israel’s war with Iran
The Trump administration’s war with Iran over its nuclear ambitions raises new questions about the country’s uranium reserves
2021 overview of the Natanz uranium enrichment site in Iran.
Satellite image (c) 2019 Maxar Technologies/DigitalGlobe/Scapeware3D/Getty Images
Last weekend the Trump administration and Israel started a war with Iran because Iran poses an imminent threat, mainly due to its nuclear ambitions. America and Israel attacked Myriad military and leadership goals Linked to the country’s uranium enrichment programme. But the fate of Iran’s partially enriched uranium—cause of warNuclear non-proliferation experts say the conflict is unlikely to be resolved.
“Without effective monitoring, the whereabouts and security of Iran’s nuclear material will become even more uncertain,” said nuclear nonproliferation experts Darryl Kimball, Thomas Countryman and Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association in Washington, DC. a statement Released on Saturday.
He said the US conflict “is not justified on non-proliferation grounds”, adding that there were reports of progress towards an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program before the war began.
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Last Friday, hours before the US bomb attack on Tehran, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report This indicates that Iran has not allowed inspections at any of its four declared uranium enrichment facilities since US and Israeli airstrikes last June on three sites that were then believed to be operational.
Uranium needs to be concentrated, or richIsotope uranium 235 to serve as nuclear reactor fuel or material for nuclear weapons. IAEA estimated Before the June 2025 military action, Iran had 441 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium – enough for 10 nuclear weapons if the material were further enriched. It is unclear how much remains after the latest airstrikes, but the US and Iran were reportedly involved in talks before last Saturday’s attacks. stock statussays Edwin Lyman, a nuclear security expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It would be assumed that it is still under Iranian control,” he says.
Ian Stewart of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey says the June 2025 air strikes dealt a blow to Iran’s enrichment program. And the country’s leaders appear unwilling to rebuild it quickly, perhaps out of fear of further conflict. “Iran cannot quickly acquire nuclear weapons now, but the risk is that an extremist could take responsibility and pursue the program,” he says.
“Any attempt now to recover that material or process it further, in the absence of diplomatic agreement and inspector access, will become an urgent issue that will require even more full-scale intervention,” Stewart says.
in january satellite imagery The Isfahan Nuclear Enrichment Facility suggested that Iran was possibly recovering uranium stockpile from the bombing site. Reportedly America and Israel Isfahan attacked Again this past weekend. one in statement However, on Monday IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said “we have no indication” that any of Iran’s nuclear installations have been damaged. “So far, no increase in radiation levels above normal background levels has been observed in countries bordering Iran,” Grossi said.
Even though it is not completely enriched in weapons grade Iran uranium reserves Liman says there is currently the potential to make “several” nuclear explosive devices that would have “significant” yields. He said that it may also be possible to deliver crude bombs through secret means. “But the potential costs to Iran of taking such drastic measures could far outweigh any benefits, given how the US and other countries might respond,” Liman says.
Editor’s note (3/2/26): This story is in development and may be updated.
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