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← The June 22 Strikes

Isfahan: Tomahawks, Tunnels, and the Uranium Stockpile

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED that a US submarine fired more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at Isfahan. STRONG that the tunnels holding Iran's enriched uranium were not destroyed.

Isfahan is where Iran converts uranium into the gas that centrifuges spin, and where it makes uranium metal. It is also, according to the IAEA, where much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium was stored, in tunnels under the complex. That makes Isfahan the most important site for the question Americans were told had been answered: is the material for a bomb gone?

The strike​

  • At about 5 p.m. Eastern time on June 21, a US submarine "launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles against key surface-infrastructure targets at Esfahan," about an hour and forty minutes before the B-2s reached Fordow (post quoting the Pentagon account). The cruise missiles were the last American weapons to hit their targets (AP via PBS).
  • Trump told Sean Hannity it was 30 Tomahawks fired from 400 miles away (as preserved in the research captures).
  • Isfahan's deputy governor and Iranian officials confirmed the attack; Iran's nuclear safety center reported no contamination outside the sites (Sprinter Press roundup).
  • Israel had struck Isfahan before America did. Arabic coverage citing a Fox News source said Israel had already destroyed about 75 percent of Natanz and Isfahan, and the Tomahawks finished the job (Al Jazeera Arabic, as relayed in the research captures).

Surface versus tunnels​

The Tomahawks were aimed at "surface infrastructure." Cruise missiles do not reach deep tunnels. That distinction matters:

  • The Institute for Science and International Security estimated about 90 percent damage to the Isfahan conversion plant (as summarized by Michael Rothman, May 4, 2026).
  • But a June 2026 analysis by the same institute said the IAEA had identified the Isfahan tunnel complex as the storage site for Iran's 20 percent and 60 percent enriched uranium (ISIS / Andrea Stricker, June 2026).
  • Behnam Ben Taleblu, citing IAEA chief Grossi, put 440 to 460 kilograms of 60 percent uranium in Isfahan (hit by Tomahawks) and Natanz (hit by bunker-busters) (Ben Taleblu, April 16, 2026).

In other words, the building that turns uranium into gas was wrecked; the tunnels holding the uranium were, by these accounts, still there.

Why it matters to American soldiers​

If the uranium is sealed in tunnels that bombs cannot reach, the only way to remove it is on foot. The Arms Control Association said removing it "would likely require thousands of troops on the ground, take several weeks, and require the transport of special equipment" (as quoted by @shanaka86, May 11, 2026). In March 2026, "Fox News reported on 11th March, citing US intelligence," that uranium had been moved to the deeper Pickaxe Mountain site, and Fox host Jesse Watters described a "near-impenetrable site requiring potential special forces insertion" (as relayed by @shanaka86, March 13, 2026). That is the road from Isfahan to the American soldiers on the ground section of this investigation.

Status: Donald Trump, Behnam Ben Taleblu and Andrea Stricker are alive, as far as these sources show.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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