Could the U.S. military launch a special operation inside Iran to secure the country’s nuclear weapons material?
That is a question the White House and Pentagon are grappling with as Operation Epic Fury will soon enter its fourth week.
As policymakers and senior military leaders plan the course of the war, a special operations raid to retrieve Iran’s highly enriched uranium remains on the table.
A daring special operation
According to American and Israeli intelligence assessments, most of Tehran’s highly enriched uranium – the necessary component to create a nuclear weapon – is very likely still buried deep under the Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz facilities that were attacked last summer by Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers and the USS Georgia guided-missile submarine.
A ground special operation to retrieve the material is feasible. The U.S. military and the Israeli Defense Force enjoy complete air superiority over Iran. Following the initial phase of the operation, where fighter jets and bombers targeted Iran’s air defenses, U.S. and Israel forces are now striking tactical targets across Iran, with nearly 7,000 sites hit so far. Although air power alone does not win wars, it can certainly cordon a particular area and prevent Iranian forces from reaching it. Then, ground forces would set up a perimeter around the destroyed facilities and ensure that the retrieval crews are not disturbed. Finally, special operations fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft can help evacuate the uranium.
President Trump is reportedly considering the option of a special operation to seize Iran’s nuclear stockpile. If he gives the green light, who should go?
Which unit?
If such an operation is ordered, then the question becomes which particular units would be involved in it. In the past, the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and its subordinate Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) had divided the Middle East area of operations between the Army and the Navy tier 1 special missions units. Delta Force took Iraq and Syria, while SEAL Team Six took Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As a result of this division of labor, Delta Force captured Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003 and killed the leader of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2019. And SEAL Team Six killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 in Pakistan.
To be sure, in the initial phases of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, both units operated in each other’s “domain.” Delta Force came close to capturing bin Laden during the Tora Bora battle in 2001. And SEAL Team Six helped rescue Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch after her unit was ambushed and annihilated by Iraqi forces.
Iran is situated between Iraq and Afghanistan. And yet, an operation of this magnitude and importance might supersede prior agreements of operational authority. The units involved need to have the requisite training to breach, retrieve, and handle nuclear fusion material.
Sandboxx News understands that Delta Force has trained for such missions which are known as the Hardened Deeply Buried Targets (HDBT) missions. Delta Force has been training on this mission set since the 1990s, when the U.S. military assessed that adversaries were moving their most precious assets deep underground.
Thus, the Army’s elite special missions unit is qualified to tackle what would be one of the most important special operations in history.
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