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US prepared urgent ground mission to seize Iran's uranium, but Trump blocked it

Ynetnews published US prepared urgent ground mission to seize Iran's uranium, but Trump blocked it. The page does not name a reporter. The byline is the desk name Ynet. The page, as opened, does not print a date. It follows a CNN story published on 12 June 2026, which this page also opened, so that is the date used here. Ynetnews says the US military prepared an urgent plan to send ground forces into Iran to seize enriched uranium, and that President Donald Trump blocked it. An American family should care because the reported plan was for US troops to go into Iran on the ground. The same reports say the President held it back at the last stage.

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. Ynetnews is passing on CNN, which cited unnamed sources; a Joint Staff spokesperson declined to comment and did not deny it. Ynetnews says Trump blocked the mission. CNN's wording is that he hit pause, and that the idea had not been taken fully off the table.

What the article says​

Ynetnews says Iran's enriched uranium is spread across several sites, mainly Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow, and is buried in tunnels. It reports that a senior US general secretly visited US Central Command headquarters in Florida late the previous month. Central Command is the US military command for the Middle East. The briefing, Ynetnews says, was on a plan to send ground forces into Iran to capture the uranium by force. Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Ynetnews says that around the same time, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine traveled to Brussels for a meeting with NATO officials. Sources told CNN the urgent activity suggested the administration had come very close to approving the operation. After Caine briefed Trump, Ynetnews writes, the president blocked it. He was warned that Iran could hit back hard, that the global economy could be shaken further, and that US casualties could be significant.

One source familiar with the uranium-seizure plan told CNN that carrying it out would have involved "a lot of risk," adding that it was not surprising Trump chose not to give it the green light.

Ynetnews, relaying CNN, in the article above. The only words Ynetnews puts in quotation marks there are "a lot of risk." Ynetnews does not print a date. The CNN article it follows was published on 12 June 2026.

Ynetnews says the planning came while Trump was saying the United States and Iran were close to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the sea lane at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and to settle the nuclear dispute. It says a senior US official later spoke of an understanding on "the destruction and removal of the enriched material," and said that under the deal the United States would receive that material. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the talks were in a final internal stage.

CNN's story does not match Ynetnews on every point. CNN says the general who made the secret visit was Caine himself, and that he flew from a NATO meeting in Brussels back to Tampa on 19 May. CNN says Trump "hit pause" after warnings about Iranian retaliation, a longer war, and the world economy. It says a mission to seize the uranium had not been taken off the table entirely. It says securing the material would require a significant US ground force, including hundreds of special operators. A source told CNN, "Essentially, we'd have to invade." CNN says commanders put such an operation between "High to Extreme" on their scale of acceptable risk for special operations forces, meaning a significant number of American casualties was possible even if the mission worked. A Joint Staff spokesperson declined to comment on the preparations. CNN also quotes Trump that day: "Nobody's getting close to it because it's buried under a mountain."

Status: Donald Trump is alive. Dan Caine is alive.

What other reporting adds​

How it spread in Israel. An Israeli X account shared the Ynet headline the night it appeared: "US prepared urgent ground mission to seize Iran's uranium, but Trump blocked it." One reply: "If Israel controlled US government, this definitely would not have happened." (research capture: twitter/t31__v372.md). The reply is one reader's opinion.

The date matches another report. On 19 May, the day CNN says Caine flew to Tampa, 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).

The plan came back in July. The New York Post reported on 25 July that seizing the uranium "would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran's nuclear facilities," citing "a source familiar with military planning" (as pasted by @OwenGregorian on X; research capture: twitter/t52__v613.md). That fits CNN's line that the option had not been taken off the table.

What it shows​

CNN's source put it in four words: "Essentially, we'd have to invade." The plan needed a significant US ground force, including hundreds of special operators, and commanders rated its risk "High to Extreme," meaning a significant number of American casualties was possible even if it worked. It came close enough to approval that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs flew back from a NATO meeting to brief the President.

It was paused, not closed. By July the New York Post described "thousands of ground troops storming Iran's nuclear facilities." Israel's prime minister wanted the uranium taken out ("You go in, and you take it out," he said in May); the force sized to do it is American. See Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid.

Check it yourself​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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