Vice President JD Vance raised serious doubts about the success of U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, saying Iran may have moved its enriched uranium before the bombs fell — possibly because they were tipped off by President Donald Trump.
Iran reportedly shifted up to 880 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity from a secure facility in Isfahan, according to Israeli sources. That’s nearly enough for ten nuclear bombs.
“There has been widespread speculation since the bombings that Trump’s threats on social media, including one post calling for Tehran to be evacuated, telegraphed the strikes to the Iranians,” a report from The New York Times noted. Satellite photos showed 16 trucks near the Isfahan site before the attacks, possibly used to move the uranium.
Trump’s team insisted the mission worked. “We have a high degree of confidence” that the strikes destroyed Iran’s uranium stockpile, said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday.
But Vance publicly cast doubt on that.
“We are going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel, and that’s one of the things that we’re going to have conversations with the Iranians about,” Vance told ABC News. The quote suggests the uranium might still be intact — and in Iranian hands.
President Trump had boasted the nuclear sites at Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz were “completely and fully obliterated” during his address to the nation on June 21.
However, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mariano Grossi told CNN, “Iran has made no secret that they have protected this material.” He added that inspectors haven’t been allowed to check the sites since the strikes.
The picture now emerging is that Iran may have gotten a heads-up — possibly from Trump’s own public threats — and acted fast to hide its uranium before the bombs dropped.
