Trump temporarily halts US plan to seize Iran's enriched uranium, CNN reports

BAGHDAD, Iraq — President Donald Trump has temporarily suspended a US military plan to use ground forces to seize Iran's highly enriched uranium, CNN reported Friday evening. The plan had been drawn up by the US Army to secure the material from deep tunnels at Iran's Isfahan, Natanz and Fordo facilities. According to the network, Trump traveled in late May to US Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters in Florida for a classified briefing from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine. Caine had been recalled early from a NATO meeting in Brussels and returned to Tampa on May 19. Military officials described the operation as "high to extreme risk" for special forces, warning it would require hundreds of special operations personnel. The roughly 970 pounds of uranium, which could be used in nuclear weapons production, is stored in deeply buried tunnels, making a ground raid highly dangerous. Trump was warned the operation could draw a severe Iranian response, prolong conflict and damage the global economy. Officials also cautioned that Tehran could direct the Houthis to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait if negotiations collapsed, and that Iran's tunnel defenses, surface-to-air missiles and ballistic missile stockpiles posed serious threats. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has previously warned that Iran's current stockpile could allow the production of up to 10 nuclear bombs. No further details on the status of the plan were immediately available.