By John Q. Hosedrinker 
Despite recent US bombing campaigns targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, Senator JD Vance suggests Iran’s substantial enriched uranium stockpile remains intact. The focus is now on Iran’s ability to enrich the uranium to weapons-grade, and convert it into a nuclear weapon, rather than the uranium’s physical location. While some reports suggest the uranium may have been moved from facilities like Isfahan before the bombings, experts like David Albright note unaccounted-for centrifuges remain a concern. Vance asserts that the bombing achieved its goal by eliminating Iran’s ability to weaponize the fuel, although ongoing negotiations with Iran are necessary to ensure the stockpile’s ultimate disposition.
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JD Vance suggests Iran’s uranium stockpile is still intact despite US and Israeli strikes, and it’s hard not to feel a certain degree of skepticism swirling around the whole situation. It’s like everyone knew the strikes were coming, and if that’s the case, you’d have to be incredibly naive to believe that Iran wouldn’t have taken steps to protect its assets. The idea that the uranium stockpile might still be intact, even after these strikes, certainly seems plausible.
Now, the justification given for the strikes was never necessarily about the stockpile itself. The claimed goal was to damage Iran’s ability to produce weapons-grade uranium, with the bombing framed as “mission success” because they supposedly no longer had the capacity. But let’s be real, if the main objective was to cripple their enrichment capabilities, and they successfully moved the stockpile, it becomes a matter of “they struck in order to hinder production, but are they really sure what they hit?”
The timing of everything feels off. The United States, the alleged masters of global intelligence, seemingly telegraphed the impending attack. Then, in the aftermath, we find the IAEA, the very organization tasked with monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities, admitting they have no idea where the stockpile ended up. Previously, they knew the location and confirmed it. This whole sequence just reeks of a situation that got out of control.
The consequences are concerning. It seems these actions haven’t deterred Iran; they’ve likely driven them further into secrecy and confirmed that US bunker-buster bombs aren’t the ultimate weapon. It’s hard not to see this as a miscalculation, and it’s not helped by the fact that this situation is a direct result of previous actions.
It also feels like a massive political misstep and a case of America’s overreach and a failed PR campaign. The lack of transparency and the shifting goalposts regarding the actual objectives of the strikes are concerning.
The focus of the attacks was on production capacity. The strikes didn’t even target the stockpile itself. This raises a question about the real aims of the operation. Was it about reducing the enrichment of the uranium to 90% levels or about eliminating the stockpile? Maybe they were aiming for something completely different.
There’s a common perception of a lack of competence and an attempt to deflect responsibility. Trump’s involvement in the background, with what appear to be very clear public statements of intent, only compounds the situation. It adds to the confusion.
This all points to a failure of the military operation, the intelligence, and the political messaging. It’s easy to feel cynical when it seems like Iran was given a heads-up and that their plans were successful.
The situation is worsened by the fact that 60% enriched uranium, the level Iran reportedly possesses, can be a step towards a nuclear weapon. It also increases the chances of it being used in a “dirty bomb”. Did the strikes damage the equipment used to enrich the uranium? The answer seems to be a resounding no, because everything seems to have been moved.
We are left with a sense of mission that did not succeed. The strikes may have been meant to slow down Iran’s progress, but if they are not really effective in destroying the stockpile and capabilities, the situation may even get worse.