'Game Not Over': Iran's Message As US, Israel Hunt For 400kg Uranium

Iran still has stocks of enriched uranium - which is used to make nuclear weapons - and 'the game is not over', sources close to the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told news agency AFP Tuesday.

The location of a stockpile of 400kg of the material - enough to make up to 10 nuclear weapons - is unknown after the United States' weekend bombing of three Iranian facilities.

The 'missing' uranium is 60 per cent enriched. At 90, it can be used in nuclear weapons.

Iran most likely moved the uranium, and possibly some equipment to continue enriching it, to a secret location days before American B-2 'Spirit' bombers dropped 'bunker busters' on the Fordrow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities, causing significant damage and destruction.

Before and after satellite photos of the facilities confirmed the damage, but the extent of setback to Iran's nuclear programme will only be revealed in the medium- or long-term.

Shortly after the attack, red flags were raised about the uranium, with US Vice President JD Vance and senior officials privately admitting they do not know, at this time, where it is.

READ | Fears Over Iran's Missing 400kg Of Uranium, Can Make 10 Nukes: US

Israeli and US intel believes the material - packed in special crates, each small enough to fit in the boot of a car, were loaded on to trucks and taken to another underground site. Two Israeli officials, who asked not to be named, admitted this was likely what happened.

However, Vance, speaking to Fox News, said he thought the uranium had never left Fordrow and now lies buried under thousands of feet of rubble and debris after the bombing.

Earlier, after Israel's first wave of missile attacks (and before the US' 'bunker buster' strike), Iran had threatened to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and insisted it would not be bullied into abandoning a nuclear programme that it has repeatedly said is for civilian use only.

Now, following the US air strike, the Iranian government told AFP it had "taken the necessary measures" to ensure continuation of its nuclear programme. "We have taken necessary measures and are taking stock of the damage caused by the strikes," Mohd Eslami, chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in a statement aired on state television.

"Plans for restarting (the facilities) have been prepared in advance," he said, underlining Tehran's determination to continue its nuclear programme despite threats from the US and warnings from the global community, "... our strategy is to ensure production is not disrupted."

Does Iran actually have nuclear weapons, or weapons-grade nuclear material?

Officially, no. Tehran has insisted its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

But Israel disagrees and so does US President Donald Trump, who warned Tehran of more devastating attacks if it does not agree to peace. "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been totally obliterated. If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets..."

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