DistantNews
Support us
🇹🇼 Taiwan /Conflict & Security

Trump: Only US, China Can Retrieve Iran's Buried Enriched Uranium

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • Former U.S. President Donald Trump stated that only the United States and China possess the equipment capable of retrieving enriched uranium from Iran's buried nuclear facilities.
  • Trump revealed that U.S. Space Force is monitoring the destroyed Iranian nuclear sites with advanced cameras to detect any attempts to access the deep-buried uranium.
  • He asserted that the buried enriched uranium does not pose an immediate threat to the U.S. due to its depth, and any retrieval attempt would alert American forces.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that the United States and China are the only nations with the necessary equipment to extract enriched uranium from Iran's deeply buried nuclear facilities. Speaking at the White House, Trump stated that the U.S. Space Force is actively monitoring the destroyed Iranian nuclear sites with powerful cameras.

We attacked their nuclear facilities, and they were thoroughly destroyed.

— Donald TrumpFormer U.S. President Donald Trump describing the state of Iran's nuclear facilities.

Trump asserted that the facilities were "thoroughly destroyed" and questioned whether the enriched uranium could even be retrieved. He emphasized that the U.S. possesses unique, powerful equipment capable of reaching the depth where the nuclear materials are stored, estimated to be between 260 to 330 feet (80 to 100 meters) underground. He also mentioned that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agrees with the difficulty of accessing these materials.

We are the only country that has that equipment that is strong enough, that can go down into the mountain deep enough, but the mountain crushed the nuclear facility.

— Donald TrumpDonald Trump explaining the unique capabilities of U.S. equipment for accessing buried nuclear materials.

The former president further revealed that the U.S. has approximately nine monitoring devices focused on these sites, ensuring that any activity would be immediately detected. Despite the presence of enriched uranium, Trump characterized it as not posing an immediate threat to the U.S. due to its inaccessible location. He contrasted the situation with other scenarios, noting that retrieving the material would be a complex and time-consuming task, unlike operations in Venezuela.

We have about nine of these devices, and we have them and operate them. So, as soon as anybody gets near there, we know what we need to know.

— Donald TrumpDonald Trump detailing the U.S. Space Force's surveillance capabilities on Iranian nuclear sites.

Trump also indicated that Washington does not require an agreement with Tehran to access the uranium, asserting Iran's inability to prevent U.S. actions. He also expressed no intention of meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

It's not like Venezuela. You go in, you are there for a few minutes, and you leave.

— Donald TrumpDonald Trump contrasting the complexity of retrieving materials from Iran with other situations.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog