Skip to main content

← Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid

US ground mission to capture Iran's uranium paused by Trump - report

On June 13, 2026, The Jerusalem Post published US ground mission to capture Iran's uranium paused by Trump - report, by Jerusalem Post Staff. Citing CNN, it says the United States had reached an advanced stage of planning a ground mission into Iran to recover enriched uranium, and that President Donald Trump paused it. Enriched uranium is uranium processed so it can fuel a reactor or, if processed much further, a bomb. An American family should care because the reported mission would have put American troops on Iranian soil, and because the article says a top general warned of significant American losses. The article describes a plan brought to the edge of approval and then paused.

Background for new readers: On 28 February 2026 the United States and Israel began a joint air war on Iran. The Pentagon calls its part Operation Epic Fury; Israel calls its part Operation Roaring Lion. It came eight months after a shorter war in June 2025, when US bombers hit Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The question running through this section is whether the air war turns into American soldiers fighting on Iranian soil. This article is filed under Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The Post is retelling a CNN report built on two unnamed sources, with specific detail: General Caine's 19 May trip from Brussels to Tampa to brief the President. The Joint Staff declined to comment and did not deny it.

What the article says​

The Post says planning was far along, and then stopped.

According to CNN, Caine rushed from a NATO meeting in Brussels to Tampa, Florida, on May 19 to brief Trump, suggesting that the US was very close to approving the mission before Trump put the brakes on.

Jerusalem Post Staff, The Jerusalem Post, June 13, 2026, citing CNN.

NATO is the US-European military alliance. Gen. Dan Caine is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president's senior military adviser. The Post, citing those two sources, says Caine briefed Trump and that Trump decided against the mission after warnings it could cause significant US losses. The rush from Brussels to Tampa is the article's reason for saying approval had been close.

The Post also says Trump weighed a likely escalation with Iran and added pressure on the world economy. One source told CNN the mission involved "lots of risk," including potentially severe retaliation from Iran. CNN asked a spokesperson for the US Joint Staff, the staff that supports the Joint Chiefs. The Post writes that the spokesperson declined to comment. That silence is the only official response in the article, and it is not a denial.

A later section cites Reuters on a separate track, an emerging US-Iran deal. The Post says a senior US official told Reuters the deal would include dismantling Iran's nuclear program, letting the United States collect the enriched uranium, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and lifting a US blockade on Iranian ports. The strait is the narrow sea lane tankers use to leave the Persian Gulf. The article says the source stated that Iran committed never to develop a nuclear weapon. It says Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif posted that both sides had agreed on the text of the deal. Goldie Katz and Ariella Roitman contributed to the Post report.

What other reporting adds​

The same day as the reported briefing. On 19 May 2026, the day CNN says General Caine flew to brief Trump, a widely followed news account posted: "A senior Pentagon official declined to rule out renewed US military action or ground troop deployment in Iran, saying those decisions remain with President Trump." (@deitaone01 on Threads, 19 May 2026; research capture: twitter/t50__v594.md).

Netanyahu, nine days earlier. On CBS's 60 Minutes, Israel's prime minister said the enriched uranium "has to be taken out of Iran," and when asked how: "You go in, and you take it out." He added: "what President Trump has said to me, 'I want to go in there.'" (CBS News transcript, 10 May 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v145.md).

Trump's own account, a week earlier. On 4 June Trump told reporters he had rejected a ground plan because "You have to be there for two weeks," and "I don't want to put men in that kind of danger" (see It's entombed: Trump says US can retrieve Iran's uranium). That fits the CNN account of a paused mission.

It came back. In July, the New York Post reported, citing "a source familiar with military planning," that the mission "would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran's nuclear facilities" (as pasted by @OwenGregorian on X, 25 July 2026; research capture: twitter/t52__v613.md).

What it shows​

A ground mission into Iran was planned to an advanced stage, briefed to the President by his top general, and held back after warnings that it could cause significant US losses. Nine days earlier Netanyahu had said on 60 Minutes, "You go in, and you take it out." On the day of the briefing, a senior Pentagon official declined to rule out ground troop deployment.

The mission was paused, not cancelled. In July the New York Post reported it "would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran's nuclear facilities." The soldiers in the plan are American. See Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid and Pentagon Ground Plans 2026.

Check it yourself​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

Last updated on