Preliminary intelligence assessments provided to European governments indicate Iran’s 408kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains largely intact following US strikes on the country’s main nuclear facilities, the Financial Times reported on 26 June, citing two officials.

The intelligence suggests Iran’s uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not concentrated at Fordow, one of its two main enrichment sites, when US forces attacked last weekend. Instead, the stockpile had been distributed to various other locations, according to the assessments.

The findings challenge President Donald Trump’s assertion that the bombing had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme. “Nothing was taken out of [the] facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Thursday, in an apparent reference to Fordow.

European Union governments are still awaiting a full intelligence report on damage to Fordow, which was built deep beneath a mountain near the holy city of Qom. One initial report suggested “extensive damages, but not full structural destruction,” according to the officials.

Iranian officials indicated the enriched uranium stockpile was moved before the US bombing, which came after days of Israeli strikes on the country. The US used bunker-buster bombs to attack Fordow and Natanz, Iran’s other main uranium enrichment facility, on Sunday. Cruise missiles targeted a third site, Isfahan, used in the fuel conversion cycle and for storage.

Trump has dismissed a provisional American intelligence assessment, leaked to US media, that concluded Iran’s nuclear programme had been set back by only months. The Israel Atomic Energy Commission assessed this week that US and Israeli strikes had “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.”

However, experts warn that if Tehran retained its stockpile of enriched uranium and established advanced centrifuges at hidden sites, it could still produce the fissile material required for weapons.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told French Radio Thursday that Iran’s nuclear programme had “suffered enormous damage,” though he said claims of complete destruction were overblown. Iran maintains its programme serves peaceful civilian purposes.

Before the conflict began on 13 June, the 408kg stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity had been stored at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, experts said. Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile exceeded 8,400kg, though most was enriched to low levels.

Satellite images of Fordow after Sunday’s bombing show tunnel entrances apparently sealed with earth and holes that may mark entry points of the US’s 30,000lb precision-guided bunker busters. Access roads also appear damaged.

Grossi said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the IAEA on 13 June warning that Iran would “adopt special measures to protect our nuclear equipment and materials.” The UN nuclear watchdog’s inspectors have been unable to visit the plants since Israel launched its assault on Iran.

The US has not provided definitive intelligence to EU allies on Iran’s remaining nuclear capabilities following the strikes and is withholding clear guidance on future relations with Tehran, three officials briefed on the discussions said. EU policy toward Tehran remains “on hold” pending a new Washington initiative on seeking a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis.

Conversations between Trump and EU leaders this week failed to provide clarity, the officials said. The Trump administration had been holding indirect negotiations with Tehran before the war in hopes of curbing its nuclear activities.

Trump said earlier this week that Washington would talk to Tehran next week, but also suggested a deal might not be needed following the strikes on Iran’s nuclear plants. “It is completely erratic,” said one official. “For now, we are doing nothing.”

Read also:

• Australia sanctions 37 Russians, 7 firms and deepens NATO cooperation amid Russo-Ukrainian war
• Putin has received ammo from North Korea. Now he wants soldiers — and Pyongyang is ready to send them in July
• Better late than never: Ukraine finally tests its own gliding bomb kit (video)