Iran has reportedly booby-trapped and collapsed access tunnels at its Isfahan nuclear facility to protect its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. This tactical move comes just days before a potential memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington is expected to be signed.

The Isfahan fortification and the Sunday deadline

The Isfahan nuclear complex has become a tactical fortress in the final hours of high-stakes diplomacy. According to the report, Iran has spent recent weeks collapsing access tunnels and planting explosive mines around the site to shield its near-weapons-grade uranium. This maneuver occurs as President Donald Trump prepares to announce a memorandum of understanding, potentially as early as Sunday.

The proposed deal aims to secure the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and establish a framework for dismantling Iran's nuclear program. However, the physical reality on the ground in Isfahan suggests that the technical negotiations promised in the agreement may face immediate, violent resistance. President Trump has even suggested that if necessary, B-2 Bombers could be used to access the material buried under "powerful sunken granite mountains."

Why Gen. Dan Caine’s May CENTCOM visit signaled military readiness

The difficulty of securing the Isfahan site is not a new concern for the Pentagon. The report notes that in May, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine made a rushed trip to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to review plans for a potential ground operation. These plans involved American forces entering Iran to seize the uranium stockpile by force.

President Trump ultimately declined to authorize such an operation, citing the risk of severe Iranian retaliation and potential damage to the global economy. While the administration is now leaning toward a diplomatic solution, the previous military planning highlights how close the situation came to total kinetic conflict. Officials warned that a successful seizure would likely require hundreds of special operations personnel and a massive American military presence.

Scott Roecker’s warning on the "inaccessible" uranium claim

The new fortifications at Isfahan create a significant verification loophole. scott Roecker, who led the National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Nuclear Material Removal from 2017 to 2021, warned that Tehran could use these collapsed tunnels to claim that portions of its stockpile are simply unreachable.

If the United States cannot verify the existence or location of every barrel of enriched material, the entire premise of the agreement—that the material will be destroyed or downblended—could be undermined. As the source reports,the volatility of the material means it cannot be easily moved with a "backhoe and a backpack," making any attempt to retrieve it from booby-trapped tunnels a massive, dangerous undertaking.

Can the U.S. verify material buried under "granite mountains"?

Several critical questions remain unanswered as the Sunday deadline approaches. First, will the U.S. be able to confirm the exact volume of uranium currently buried in the Isfahan tunnel networks? Second, how will the administration manage the technical challenge of destroying "combustible and volatile" material on-site without a massive military presence? Finally, if Iran claims certain caches are irretrievable due to the new mines and collapses, will the U.S. accept that as a finality, or will the agreement collapse? The international community is watching to see if the memorandum of understanding can survive these physical obstacles.