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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program over the weekend.
“I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,” Hegseth said.
After the strikes, several experts cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Fordow before the early Sunday morning strike, and could be hiding it along with other nuclear components at locations unknown to Israel, the US, and UN nuclear inspectors.
They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing “unusual activity” at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance to the facility.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday that most of the 60% highly enriched uranium — near weapons-grade — had been moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack.
Hegseth’s comments denying those claims came during a news briefing where he accused the media of downplaying the success of the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. This followed a leaked preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) suggesting the strikes may have only set back Iran’s nuclear progress by a few months.
Hegseth said the DIA assessment was “low confidence,” and, citing CIA Director John Ratcliffe, added that newer intelligence indicated Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged by the recent US strikes and would take years to rebuild.
