Iran mined tunnel entrances of nuclear sites amid fears of US seizure plan - CNN
Iran has sharply escalated efforts to seal off its near bomb-grade uranium stockpile, deliberately collapsing tunnels and placing explosive mines at entrances amid fears of a possible US operation to seize the material, CNN reported, citing five sources familiar with US intelligence.
The report said access to roughly half a ton of highly enriched uranium is now far more difficult, dangerous and time-consuming than it was a month ago, when President Donald Trump was publicly suggesting the US military could move to seize it.
The added fortifications could complicate a proposed US-Iran deal that Washington says would require Tehran to turn over its enriched uranium for destruction and removal from the country.
CNN said most of the stockpile is believed by the international community to be in collapsed tunnels at the Isfahan nuclear complex, with some material held at other sites.
Experts cited by CNN said even Iran would now face a risky and complex task retrieving the uranium, requiring heavy excavation equipment and de-mining operations.
Scott Roecker, a former senior US nuclear material removal official, said the situation could also give Iran room to claim part of the stockpile is irretrievable, raising doubts over full verification.
CNN previously reported that the US military prepared plans in May for a possible ground operation inside Iran to seize the material, but Trump paused the plan after warnings it could trigger severe Iranian retaliation, prolong the war, disrupt the global economy and cause significant US casualties.
The report said the removal of Iran’s uranium under any deal would likely require a specialized US mobile uranium facility organized through the National Nuclear Security Administration at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Trump has said securing the material is a priority in negotiations to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but CNN said even top nuclear removal experts would need significant time to complete the task.
An illustration showing an ancient Iranian soldier and a Revolutionary Guard member holding a weapon together, displayed during a November 7 ceremony in Tehran where a statue of pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I was unveiled.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
The statue unveiled in Tehran's Revolution Square
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
Image circulating by hardliners on social media
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
