Iran's enriched uranium stockpile remains inaccessible after US bombing, location uncertain

Iran is believed to hold more than 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, material that could be further enriched to weapons-grade 90% in a relatively short time, according to current estimates. The stockpile has remained inaccessible since the June 2025 US bombing campaign, with conflicting claims from US President Donald Trump and Iranian officials about its fate.

Trump has repeatedly referred to the material as "nuclear dust" and asserted that the June 2025 bombing "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program. In April 2026, Trump said Iran had agreed to hand over its stockpile, though Iran has not confirmed any such deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS in March 2026 that the material remains under the rubble and that Iran has "no program" and "no plan" to recover it. Araghchi did not exclude the possibility of diluting the highly enriched uranium as part of a future deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this weekend that Russia was ready to store Iran's enriched uranium. Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in late April 2026 that the majority of Iran's highly enriched uranium was probably still at the Isfahan nuclear complex. According to Grossi, 18 blue containers believed to carry around 200 kilograms of enriched uranium entered a tunnel at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center on June 9, 2025, four days before the start of the 12-day war. Iran's top three nuclear facilities — Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz — all suffered heavy damage during Operation "Midnight Hammer" in June 2025.

Iran has indicated it would only retrieve the material under IAEA supervision. Roland Wolff, a specialist in medical physics and radiation protection, said removing the material is "not technically impossible" but requires strict IAEA supervision and special safety measures. "Since Iran stores enriched uranium underground, at Fordow, physical access is difficult," he added.

John Bolton, former US national security advisor, pointed to the dismantling of the Libyan nuclear weapons program in the early 2000s as a precedent, noting that program was "much smaller" and took place in a "permissive environment." "The most important thing is not to allow the highly enriched uranium ... to fall into the hands of terrorists or other rogue states," Bolton said. He added that the only way to ensure Iran would not have nuclear weapons capability "is to remove the regime of the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard."