A potential attempt to retrieve and extricate Iran’s highly enriched uranium (HEU) would be highly risky and involve thousands of U.S. troops, a nuclear expert told “60 Minutes” in a segment that aired on Sunday.
It is believed that the Islamic Republic has enough of the substance to make at least ten nuclear bombs despite its nuclear facilities being bombed last June during Operation Midnight Hammer. Most of the material lies buried deeply underneath the wreckage of the Isfahan nuclear facility in scuba tank-sized containers, out of the reach of U.S. bunker-busting bombs.
It’s believed Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to make at least 10 nuclear bombs. What would it take for the U.S. to secure it? Sunday, 60 Minutes reports on a past covert mission code-named Project Sapphire that could be a blueprint for a similar operation in Iran.… pic.twitter.com/9qYUCnlXQJ
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 19, 2026
President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly emphasized that Iran will not be allowed to possess a nuclear bomb. Still, the quandary is how to ensure that never happens by taking control of the highly enriched uranium.
Nuclear expert Andrew Weber, who was a part of the effort to move over 1,300 pounds of bomb-grade uranium out of Kazakhstan after the Soviet Union imploded, sat down with “60 Minutes” correspondent Cecilia Vega to discuss the situation and Project Sapphire, which was successful in preventing the Soviet HEU from falling into Iranian hands back in 1994.
In 1994, a covert U.S. operation called Project Sapphire removed 1,300 pounds of bomb-grade uranium from Kazakhstan. Secrecy was paramount. “It was very important that nobody knew that we were going to be moving the material that snowy, cold night,” says Andrew Weber, who helped… pic.twitter.com/62q4zfl5Nw
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 19, 2026
“Project Sapphire was the first of its kind. Three massive C-5 Galaxy cargo planes were dispatched to Kazakhstan, carrying 31 specialists from the Departments of Defense and Energy. The teams brought 450 drums built to transport nuclear cargo, strong enough to survive a plane crash. And the whole thing was covert, under the cover of a humanitarian mission,” the CBS News flagship reported.
“Would the same mission be possible today in Iran?” Vega asked.
A covert U.S. mission removed bomb-grade uranium from Kazakhstan in 1994. If diplomacy succeeds, could this operation be a blueprint for a similar one in Iran today? https://t.co/4N9cmG2ZdK pic.twitter.com/VoaTg3RLLS
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 19, 2026
“In Iran, we couldn’t send a team in to do this unilaterally without great risk. You would need to set up in the middle of the country a secure perimeter,” Weber responded. “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.”
The Iranians have likely anticipated any effort to retrieve the HEU, former White House nuclear adviser Matthew Bunn said.
International nuclear inspectors haven’t been able to verify Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium since June 2025. Most of Iran’s stockpile is believed to be stored in scuba tank shaped containers, in tunnels so far below ground that U.S. bunker buster bombs may not be… pic.twitter.com/0esxZT3pQl
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 19, 2026
“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,” he told Vega.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we’re going to get the dust back. We’ll get it back either – we’ll get it back from them, or we’ll take it,” Trump vowed last week.
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