Mike Baker

According to the report, the U.S.

military has presented the president with a plan to send American ground forces into Iran to seize its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Now, this proposal came at Trump's request.

He asked for the option.

The Pentagon delivered.

But to be clear, no decision has been made.

And in fact, Trump walked back that option during his speech yesterday and in subsequent comments, implying that he wasn't worried about recovering the reportedly deeply buried enriched uranium.

He noted that the U.S.

will be always watching via satellites and can act if they see that the regime is attempting to recover it from underneath the mountain of rubble that it supposedly sits under.

But let's take a look at the Pentagon's planning, because in this conflict, circumstances, decisions, and ground truth seem to change hourly.

The target is roughly 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched to about 60%, just shy of weapons grade.

Most of that material is believed to be stored deep underground near Isfahan, with additional stockpiles at the Natanz nuclear facility and potentially other sites.

And when we say underground, well, what we mean is some of these materials are buried more than 300 feet below the surface inside reinforced tunnel complexes.

What the Pentagon has been drawing up as an option is potentially one of the most ambitious special operations missions ever attempted.

The operation would likely begin with a broad suppression campaign.

U.S.

and allied forces targeting Iranian air defenses, those that still exist, missile systems and nearby military units to create a window for insertion.

And then comes the ground phase.

Airborne troops, possibly elements of the 82nd Airborne, would be inserted deep inside Iranian territory.

Their first job would be to secure the area and establish a defensive perimeter around the nuclear sites.