The Pentagon drafted plans to send US ground forces into Iran to physically seize the country’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. President Trump ultimately hit the brakes, citing concerns about American casualties and the risk of violent Iranian retaliation.
The stockpile in question: roughly 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium, stored in hardened underground facilities including Fordow and Natanz. Trump reportedly concluded the uranium was effectively “entombed” in those locations, making a ground seizure extraordinarily dangerous for US troops.
The shadow of Desert One
Trump’s hesitation reportedly carried echoes of Operation Eagle Claw, the disastrous 1980 attempt to rescue American hostages in Tehran. That mission ended with eight US servicemembers dead in the Iranian desert before rescuers ever reached the embassy. It remains one of the most painful military failures in modern American history, and apparently it weighed on the decision-making process here.
From bombs to diplomacy, and back again
