ISFAHAN — US troops storming an underground nuclear facility to seize Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is an option President Donald Trump is reportedly considering. Such an operation would require the deployment of ground troops and could take several days or weeks to complete.

Most of Iran's uranium that can be turned into material for weapons is believed to be stored at Isfahan. At the start of the war, Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%. Uranium enriched to 60% purity can be enriched to the 90% threshold needed for weapons-grade uranium fairly quickly. Iran has roughly 1,000 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20% and 8,500 kilograms enriched to the 3.6% threshold accepted for medical research.

In a telephone interview with CBS News, Trump declined to say whether it would be possible to declare victory in the war without removing or destroying Iran's enriched uranium. "That's so deeply buried it's gonna be very hard for anybody. It's down there deep," Trump said.

The White House said that Trump had not made a final decision on an operation to extract Iran's enriched uranium. The US could use elements of the 82nd Airborne Division to secure the areas surrounding Isfahan and Natanz. The US is also considering taking control of Kharg Island to pressure Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

"Removing the uranium stockpile would be one of the most complicated special operations in history," said Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East. Reports said that securing Iran's enriched uranium could not be done without using ground forces.

Isfahan is located approximately 300 miles inland and is Iran's third largest city. Isfahan is one of three underground nuclear sites in Iran that were targeted in US-Israeli airstrikes last year. Satellite imagery from February indicated that all entrances to the tunnel complex at Isfahan appeared to be sealed off with earth. Some highly enriched uranium could also be stored at Fordo and Natanz, the other two enrichment facilities that were targeted in Operation Midnight Hammer last year.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that the majority of Iran's highly enriched uranium is stored at Isfahan, with some additional material at Natanz. "The stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs if it decided to weaponize its program," Grossi said. IAEA inspectors have not visited Iran's nuclear sites since being evacuated after the US-Israeli air campaign in 2025.

Since the start of the war, the US and Israel have used air strikes to decimate Iran's navy, degrade its ballistic missiles and damage its industrial base. The uranium is in gaseous form and is believed to be stored in large metal containers.

The operation would be fraught with radiation and chemical dangers. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, but the IAEA and Western nations say Tehran had an organized nuclear weapons program up until 2003.