Iran Says U.S. Used Raids as Cover to Seize Enriched Uranium

(MENAFN) Iran's Foreign Ministry has accused the United States of using military rescue operations on Iranian soil as a potential smokescreen to seize the country's stockpile of enriched uranium — a claim that dramatically deepens an already volatile standoff between the two nations.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, speaking at a Monday press conference, said there were "many ambiguities" surrounding a series of recent U.S. military incursions into Iranian territory. He pointed to a critical geographical discrepancy: the location where a downed American pilot was reportedly found in southwestern Iran was far removed from where U.S. forces subsequently attempted to operate — reportedly in Isfahan, in central Iran.

"This raises the possibility that the operation may have been a deceptive plan to steal enriched uranium, which cannot be ignored," Baghaei said, drawing a direct parallel to the Carter administration's ill-fated 1980 rescue attempt for more than 50 American hostages seized during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The uranium question sits at the heart of decades of hostility between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. has long suspected Iran of pursuing weapons-grade enrichment — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied.

The crisis ignited on April 2, when Iran announced it had shot down a U.S. fighter jet over Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. American officials subsequently confirmed the loss of an F-15E, with one crew member recovered promptly while a second remained missing. According to Iranian media, U.S. forces dispatched helicopters to retrieve the second airman, but at least two of those aircraft were engaged and struck by Iranian forces.

The confrontation then widened. Separate U.S. rescue efforts in Isfahan province were also targeted, Iranian media reported. Earlier dispatches from outlets including the Defa Press Agency claimed Iranian units neutralized multiple American assets — among them an HC-130 special operations plane, Black Hawk helicopters, and an unspecified number of drones — with ground skirmishes continuing between Iranian forces and U.S. personnel.

Fox News and other U.S. outlets reported that several American service members sustained injuries during the operations.

Despite the conflicting claims, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stated Sunday that both service members had been successfully extracted from Iranian territory through separate search and rescue missions.

President Donald Trump confirmed the aircraft was felled by a shoulder-fired missile — a strike he described as "lucky" — and revealed that roughly 200 Special Forces personnel had been committed to the recovery effort. He added that the retrieval of one crew member had been deliberately delayed amid fears that the pilot's radio transmissions might have been an Iranian-orchestrated trap.

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