{"id":45044,"date":"2026-04-08T19:43:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45044"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:43:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:43:52","slug":"pete-hegseth-issues-iran-an-ultimatum-over-enriched-uranium-stockpile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45044","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth issues Iran an ultimatum over enriched uranium stockpile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued an ultimatum to Iran Wednesday, urging the nation to give up its enriched uranium \u2014 or President Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/22\/us-news\/inside-operation-midnight-hammer-us-dropped-14-bunker-buster-bombs-on-irans-fordow-nuke-site-in-biggest-ever-b-2-raid\/\">will launch another \u201cOperation Midnight Hammer\u201d<\/a> to seize it.  <\/p>\n<p>While the two week cease-fire deal between the US and Iran deal does not address the nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/30\/world-news\/trump-considers-high-risk-raid-to-seize-iranian-uranium-buried-under-rubble\/\">1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium <\/a>in Tehran\u2019s possession, Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday that the US will secure the atomic material no matter what. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll get it. We\u2019ll take it, we\u2019ll take it out,\u201d Hegseth said of the enriched uranium, vowing to complete one of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/23\/us-news\/trump-we-want-irans-nuclear-dust-as-part-of-any-deal-with-iran\/\">President Trump\u2019s main goals <\/a>of the war. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned that the US could unleash another series of airstrikes to destroy Iran\u2019s highly enriched uranium. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The bulk of Iran\u2019s nearly 1,000 pound atomic stockpiles is believed to be buried at the Isfahan nuclear site. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cOr if we have to do something else ourselves, like we did Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity,\u201d he added, referencing the US-Israeli joint airstrikes against Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities last year. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut what\u2019s clear\u2026 is they\u2019ll never have a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one.\u201d <\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Along with threatening another series of airstrikes against Iran, Hegseth suggested that the US could send Special Operations troops into Iran to seize the uranium. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we have to, we can do it by any means necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Experts have warned that Iran was close to having enough highly enriched uranium to create a handful of nuclear bombs. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran\u2019s uranium stockpile is the president\u2019s \u201cred line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is on the top of the priority list for the president and his negotiating team as they head into these next round of discussions,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a red line that the president is not going to back away from, and he\u2019s committed to ensuring that takes place. We hope it will be through diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which serves as the United Nations\u2019 nuclear watchdog, said Iran had about 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium prior to last year\u2019s 12-Day War.<\/p>\n<p>The uranium stockpiles are believed to be housed in Iran\u2019s underground facilities in Isfahan and Natanz, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Isfahan, located 270 miles south of Tehran, is believed to be where the majority of Tehran\u2019s 60% enriched uranium is located, with Natanz likely holding additional caches of uranium in its<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/12\/world-news\/us-weighs-deploying-ground-troops-to-take-out-irans-nuclear-facilities-once-and-for-all\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00a0fortified Pickaxe Mountain facility<\/a><strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Natanz nuclear enrichment facility is also believed to have some of Iran\u2019s 60% enriched uranium.  <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Iranian officials have maintained that the uranium, believed to be enriched at 60%, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/23\/us-news\/jd-vance-suggests-iran-uranium-buried-as-mystery-of-missing-nuclear-fuel-grows\/\">remains buried under the rubble<\/a> following last year\u2019s airstrikes. <\/p>\n<p>Trump suggested that the US could work together with Iran to \u201cdig up and remove\u201d the uranium, which experts warn could be used to develop a handful of nuclear weapons if it reaches the 90% enrichment threshold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear \u2018Dust,\u2019\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!). Nothing has been touched from the date of the attack,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/08\/world-news\/pete-hegseth-issues-iran-an-ultimatum-over-enriched-uranium-stockpile\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued an ultimatum to Iran Wednesday, urging the nation to give up its enriched uranium \u2014 or President Trump will launch&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}