During the broadcast on Monday evening, journalist Shimon Riklin claimed that a commando-style raid could be carried out at a site in Isfahan, suggesting that Israeli assessments indicate the uranium stockpile may not be deeply buried underground and could therefore be extracted.

The claim appears to contradict earlier Israeli and American assertions that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile was secured deep underground following large-scale strikes on Iran in June 2025, when Israeli and US forces carried out coordinated attacks on sites, including nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that Iran has stockpiled more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent. More than half is allegedly stored at a nuclear facility outside Isfahan, in tunnels more than 300 feet deep, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, with the remainder located at the Natanz nuclear site and potentially other undisclosed locations.

The report was aired, amid a fragile ceasefire of the current war launched on 28 February, and without approval from Israel’s military censorship authority, which later ordered the material to be removed, according to media reports.

The disclosure quickly turned into a political controversy, with opposition lawmakers calling for an emergency session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, arguing that sensitive operational and intelligence material had been recklessly exposed.

Riklin rejected the criticism, insisting that “nothing secret” had been revealed by the channel.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly and publicly expressed his desire to recover Iran’s enriched uranium and transfer it to the United States.

Iran, however, has consistently insisted that its stockpile of enriched uranium will not be transferred “anywhere.”

On 1 April, The Washington Post reported that the US military had presented Trump with a commando plan to seize the Iranian uranium. The reported plan would have required the airlift of potentially hundreds or thousands of troops, along with heavy equipment, to support the excavation and recovery of radioactive material.

Since the ceasefire on 8 April, Trump has appeared more inclined to pursue a diplomatic settlement with Iran, scaling back earlier rhetoric that emphasized military threats in favour of a negotiated agreement, before again renewing threats this week to resume the war and subsequently retreating from that position.

The Channel 14 report has, however, intensified scrutiny of increasingly assertive Israeli rhetoric regarding Iran’s nuclear programme and the possibility of unilateral military action.

The controversy has also fuelled concerns that Israel may be preparing the political and strategic groundwork for potential operations inside Iran, raising fears of further escalation in an already volatile regional environment.

The issue follows earlier remarks by Netanyahu, who has previously hinted at the possibility of accessing Iranian nuclear material and seizing it, either through an agreement or special military operations, reviving scenarios reminiscent of past Israeli operations in the region.

“You go in and take it out,” Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS News. 

When pressed further by the interviewer, “Do you mean US special forces or Israeli forces?”, Netanyahu did not clarify. Instead, he referenced US involvement, saying, “What President Trump told me was that he said, ‘I want to go in there’ (where the Iranians keep the enriched uranium).”

He described the extraction of nuclear materials as “a possible operation,” adding that it was “not a problem,” and argued that “when there is an agreement (with Iran), you can go in and get the uranium—why not?”

When asked whether the material would be taken by force if no agreement was reached, Netanyahu declined to provide details, saying he would not discuss Israeli operational plans.

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