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Trump suspendió un plan de asalto terrestre en Irán por temor a un elevado número de víctimas (Trump suspended a ground-assault plan in Iran for fear of heavy casualties)

On 12 June 2026, the Spanish-language Jewish news site Enlace Judío published Trump suspendió un plan de asalto terrestre en Irán por temor a un elevado número de víctimas. The byline is the outlet itself. The piece retells a CNN report that the US military prepared a ground assault inside Iran to seize uranium close to weapons grade, and that President Donald Trump then suspended it. An American family should care because the plan, as described, was not ships and jets only. A source told CNN it would mean a massive presence on the ground. The same account says Trump suspended it, and that it remained on the table.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The rated claim is that planners prepared a ground raid and that Trump paused it. Enlace Judío retells CNN, which cited people familiar with the plans. The CNN story, opened on KRDO, names reporters Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen and says a Joint Staff spokesperson declined to comment.

What the article says​

Enlace Judío, citing CNN and two sources familiar with the matter, says a secret high-priority trip by America's top officer was driven by urgent reports of a possible ground assault in Iran to seize uranium fit for a nuclear weapon. It says the sensitivity of the plan made Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leave a NATO summit in Brussels on 19 May and cross the Atlantic to US Central Command. NATO is the North Atlantic treaty alliance of the United States and European allies. Central Command is the US military headquarters for the Middle East. The article says that rushed trip shows how close the White House came to approving the ground operation.

It says a Joint Staff representative refused to discuss the contingency preparations. After the reports, it says, Caine presented the operational plans to Trump. Sources told CNN, the article reports, that Trump suspended the idea after warnings that it would bring intense Iranian retaliation, lengthen the war, destabilize the world economy, and cause a high number of American casualties.

The article says this planning went on while Trump was saying in public that Washington and Tehran were close to a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow oil lane at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and to settle the nuclear dispute. It says he suggested a deal might be signed over the weekend. It says the internal talk of ground troops shows how near a major escalation was.

It quotes a source familiar with the plans telling CNN there was a lot of risk, and that it was not surprising Trump did not give the green light the previous month. It also says three sources told CNN that Tehran had an economic backup if diplomacy failed and fighting resumed: order Yemen's Houthi allies to block the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the entrance to the Red Sea. The article says that route had become vital after Iran closed Hormuz months earlier.

Seizing Iran's highly enriched uranium, about 440 kilograms enriched close to weapons grade, remains a hard goal for Trump, the article says. Highly enriched uranium is material processed far beyond what a power plant needs. It says he often raises a forced seizure and then hesitates because of the political risk of high American casualties. On a bloodier option, taking the oil terminal on Kharg Island, the article quotes Trump on Thursday: "No sé si Estados Unidos tiene el valor para ello." In English, that is "I don't know if the United States has the courage for it." The CNN story I opened gives his line as "I don't know if America has the stomach for it."

The article says the extraction mission is still on the table. It says Trump's impatience grew as Tehran delayed a pact that would force it to hand over its atomic stockpile. Sources told CNN, it reports, that the material is hidden deep in tunnels at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. It says nuclear experts doubt a US military operation could find or remove the material under fire, and that it was probably still a gas at the International Atomic Energy Agency's last accounting in June 2025. The IAEA is the UN nuclear inspectorate. The article says Iran blocked international monitoring the next month, after joint US and Israeli bombing damaged the sites but left the buried stockpile. It says IAEA director Rafael Grossi recently warned that the remaining stockpile could give Iran up to 10 nuclear warheads if it were turned into weapons. It says US intelligence still believes it is tracking the material by continuous aerial surveillance.

It says carrying out a seizure would take an immense ground force, including hundreds of elite commandos. A source described what that would mean.

"Sería increíblemente difícil rastrear esos túneles y todos los barriles", dijo una fuente. "Tendríamos que establecer una presencia masiva. Básicamente, tendríamos que invadir."

A source, as rendered in Spanish by Enlace Judío on 12 June 2026. The CNN story the same day, carried by KRDO, gives the English as: it would be insanely difficult to fish through those tunnels and all the barrels, and "We'd have to set up a massive presence. Essentially, we'd have to invade."

The article says Pentagon leaders rated the risk to special operations forces as "Alto a Extremo," high to extreme, meaning severe casualties even if the mission worked. Special operations means small units trained for raids, not a mass army. It says Iran's regular army was badly weakened, so the main threats to invading US forces would be booby-trapped storage tunnels, portable weapons, surface-to-air missiles, and a large remaining stock of ballistic missiles and drones. It says Caine and defense officials had warned earlier that a long ground campaign would dangerously drain US weapons stocks and hurt overall military readiness.

What other reporting and posts add​

Israel's prime minister had publicly urged this mission a month earlier. On CBS's 60 Minutes, asked how the enriched uranium would be removed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "You go in, and you take it out." Asked whose special forces, he said: "Well, I'm not gonna talk about military means, but the pres-- what President Trump has said to me, 'I want to go in there.' and I think it can be done physically." CBS News transcript, 10 May 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v145.md)

The plan dated back to March. Axios reported on 26 March, as The Independent retold it: "Plans for ground operations to secure enriched uranium within Iran's nuclear facilities have also been prepared by the U.S. military." The Independent, 26 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t56__v668.md) Commentator Mark Levin had pressed for it that month: "We've got to get the uranium." X trend, 29 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t50__v599.md)

For the English-language CNN account, see US military rushed to prepare ground mission to capture Iran's uranium.

What it shows​

A month after Israel's prime minister said of the uranium, "You go in, and you take it out," the US military had a plan ready that its own sources described this way: "Essentially, we'd have to invade." The risk to special operators was rated high to extreme. It was held back for fear of heavy American casualties, and it stayed on the table.

This outlet's Spanish-speaking readers were told what the public line in Washington left out: the ground war was planned, and the casualties it would bring are American. See Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid.

Check it yourself​

Status: Donald Trump is alive. Dan Caine is alive. Rafael Grossi is alive. This page reports what the articles say they did and said. It does not accuse them of a crime.

Background for a new reader: the United States and Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February 2026, with the stated aim of stopping an Iranian nuclear bomb. Iran's most dangerous nuclear material, uranium enriched close to bomb grade, is buried in tunnels, and only soldiers on the ground could take it. Enlace Judío is a Mexico City-based Jewish news site in Spanish; this piece retells a CNN exclusive for Spanish-speaking readers. The English headline would read "Trump suspended a ground-assault plan in Iran for fear of a high number of casualties."

Research captures: twitter/t13__v145.md, twitter/t56__v668.md, twitter/t50__v599.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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