nuclear-news

Dramatic high-risk US Delta Force plan to snatch Iran’s nuclear stocks revealed

Chris Hughes Defence and Security Editor, 25 Mar 2026, https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/dramatic-high-risk-delta-force-36921080

American special forces could be used to smash Iran’s nuclear ambitions as war-chiefs weigh up high-risk mission amid fears of casualties and a repeat of 1980 ‘Op’ Eagle Claw’ disaster

American military chiefs are considering one of the biggest special forces raids ever-launched in a bid to cripple Iran’s nuclear programme.

The massive helicopter-borne insertion of thousands of assault troops supporting a large number of Delta Force specialists could take at least 24 hours to conduct.

It would try to seize 450kg of 60% enriched uranium believed still to be hidden deep beneath one of Tehran’s nuclear facilities and is an immensely high-risk operation.

Although below the ‘weapons grade’ 90% of enriched uranium needed to make a nuclear weapon some US intelligence experts fear Iran could use it in the future.

Two British military sources have told the Mirror the operation plan has been drawn up, although both said it has been assessed as “very high-risk, with high probability of casualties and low probability of absolute mission success since the exact location of the uranium is uncertain.”

After fighting their way into the complex, the elite Delta Force soldiers would secure the site for specialist engineers to drill and blast their way into the underground complex.

The immensely complex operation would involve scores of spy planes and fighter jets helping to secure the approach to the mission targets.

Ground troops would form a vast perimeter around the site to fight off attacks from the IRGC. Plans were drawn up by Joint Special Operations Command which has a poignant link to Iran as it was set up in 1980 following the disastrous Operation Eagle Claw whose aim was to rescue US hostages from Tehran.

Then eight US Navy Sea Stallion helicopters took off from the deck of an American aircraft carrier for a 600-mile trip to rendezvous in the Iranian desert with six C-130 transport aircrafts.

They were hit by a violent wind-driven sand storm common in the desert which damaged the aircrafts and President Carter abandoned the mission.

As the force prepared to depart, a RH-53D helicopter crashed into a C-130 plane carrying extra fuel for refueling, igniting a fire that killed five Airmen and three Marines.

America vowed it would never happen again and sought to bring its special forces and intelligence elites together for better mission planning and execution.

In 1980 JSOC was launched forming combined units from the Army Delta Force, Navy SEAL Team Six, and the Air Force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron to ensure they could operate seamlessly together, a key failing during the Iran hostage crisis.

One source, from the intelligence community, told the Mirror: “The plan does exist but the risks of failure are very high and it may have been discounted as too difficult.

“However it is known that President Trump is extremely belligerent and not exactly risk-cognisant so there is always the possibility he could still give the go-ahead for it to happen.

“Certainly the US military has given the President options, along with their risk assessment and the uranium seizure is top of his list. Troops movements we are seeing towards the Gulf indicate something bigger than, or as well as, a Strait of Hormuz -specific operation.”

The operational planning includes crack paratroopers entering Iranian airspace in fast-moving Chinook troop carrier helicopters and uniquely-adapted special forces planes for an unusually large number of elite Delta Force special forces soldiers.

A second, military source, told the Mirror: “If it goes ahead this could be the biggest Special Forces operations ever launched, with diversions elsewhere in Iran and major air-raids to cast confusion into the ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It has been looked into for some time but it is exceptionally high risk.

“The final word will go to Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump with input from Pete Hegseth, his so-called Secretary of War, who has been extremely enthusiastic about this war. It is a major decision as a lot can go wrong in an operation of this size but US administration may see it as the only way to secure the enriched uranium. The question is whether Trump is prepared to give it the go-ahead.”

Earlier this month the Mirror revealed exclusively how US forces had sent a number of uniquely adapted MC-130J Commando II special forces planes from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk to the Middle East, indicating a major covert operation was being planned.

The Lockheed Martin US Air Force Special Operations Command planes are for clandestine, low-visibility infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces.

They perform high-speed, low-level air refueling, cargo airdrops, and air to land missions in hostile or sensitive areas. It comes amid reports President Trump has now ordered thousands of elite US paratroopers to the Middle East, perhaps to invade Kharg Island, the oil-exporting hub on which the Iranian economy relies.

Based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the Immediate Response Force is a brigade of about 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division that can deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.

But at least 5,000 marines are also en route for the Gulf, supposedly also to support an operation to secure Kharg Island, despite Trump’s claims peace negotiations are underway.

These claims have been vehemently denied by Iran’s foreign ministry. The first of two marine expeditionary units is due to arrive in the Middle East on Friday, comprising the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying 2,200 troops, the USS New Orleans, an amphibious docking ship, F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters and MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

Our sources told the Mirror the two operations against Kharg Island and the site of the hidden nuclear facility, which we have chosen not to identify, may yet happen simultaneously.

March 28, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Debunking the lies of the Iran War

The truth is, the United States has no idea what will happen if the Iranian government does fall. They are killing one leader after another, thinking they will eventually find someone who will work with the U.S. as Delcy Rodriguez has in Venezuela.

I’m aware of no one who actually studies Iran who thinks that is going to happen. It’s even less likely now that he’s killed most of the people he thought might fit that bill.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has been built on lies. Here is the truth about Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the claim that Iran was an imminent threat, and the lie that Trump has a plan for what happens next.

By Mitchell Plitnick  March 4, 2026, https://mondoweiss.net/2026/03/debunking-the-lies-of-the-iran-war/

When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, many of us knew, and argued loudly, that the American public was being lied to. We knew that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and could back up our claims. The war went ahead anyway, but eventually, the lies were exposed. 

Rather than build up support for his illegal and immoral war on Iran, as George W. Bush did nearly a quarter century ago, Donald Trump elected to simply ignore public opinion and start the war on his own. But, while Trump has his war and is not likely to be stopped by domestic forces until the war runs its course, he has found a need to justify his criminal actions.

As is their way, Trump and his minions simply lie. They’re not convincing many people, as polling shows that only about one in four Americans supports the Israeli-American attack on Iran. 

This time, the lies are coming in true Trumpian fashion: they are inconsistent, contradictory, and confusing, meant more to overwhelm the audience than to convince it. But we shouldn’t be complacent about these lies. They have a way of both framing the debate and taking on a life of their own over time. 

It’s important to examine some of these lies, and we should start with the biggest one.

The “Iran nuclear weapons program” lie

Over and over, we hear about the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon. But rare indeed are the arguments for why this should be considered a casus belli when all reliable intelligence assessments have agreed that Iran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003. 

That assessment never wavered and never changed. It remains in place today. In the United States, it was reinforced by Donald Trump’s own intelligence services, collectively, just last year. 

Moreover, while Trump’s endless boasting about having “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program was always a lie, it is undeniable that significant damage was done to Iran’s key nuclear facilities last year. Yet we are somehow meant to believe that Iran’s nuclear potential is a threat, a mere eight months later.

The issue of a nuclear weapon has been a chimera from the start. Unfortunately, it was also manipulated by Iran at times. Having little real leverage against the United States, either militarily or diplomatically, Iran would sometimes turn to nuclear enrichment to try to get leverage in its efforts to either confront the West or press for sanctions relief.

That was a dubious strategy, even if it was understandable under the circumstances, as it gives the United States all it needs to falsely characterize Iran’s nuclear program as an effort to acquire a nuclear weapon. Iran would also, from time to time, diminish or even suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This, too, was an understandable strategy under the circumstances, but it had the same effect of creating evidence for arguments about the covert and dangerous nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

These tactics have been part of Iran’s game plan for 20 years. It’s not often discussed in those terms in the West, but it’s well understood in most governments and, coupled with the consistent intelligence assessments, makes it clear that Iran has not been in pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Whether Donald Trump can grasp this is, of course, an open question. 

Yet when presented with a deal they perceive as in their interests, Iran has shown remarkable flexibility. The 2015 JCPOA, often called the Iran Nuclear Deal, provided for far more intrusive inspections than any country has ever been forced to undergo. Iran agreed and upheld its part of the bargain, despite the fact that the United States—which had agreed not only to lift certain nuclear-related sanctions but also to encourage investment in Iran to help its economy recover—had been actively discouraging economic support for Iran’s recovery. And despite the fact that its main regional adversary, Israel, had its own secret, undeclared, and unmonitored nuclear weapons stockpile of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of warheads. 

This time, Iran agreed not only to IAEA inspections that were at least as intrusive, it also agreed not to stockpile enriched uranium. That means they would enrich only what they needed for their civilian use, and any excess would be handed over to whomever the IAEA agreed to send it to. 

That’s what the Omani foreign minister announced to the world the day before Israel and the United States launched their attack on Iran. Given how closed-mouth Oman is in general and how close to the chest they have always kept information during all the negotiations they have mediated, this declaration was unprecedented. That he made that statement indicates he knew the attack was coming and hoped to thwart it. Sadly, he failed because neither Israel nor the Trump administration cares about being embarrassed by being caught in an outright lie. 

The nuclear lie is the root of all of this, but many other lies are a part of the picture. 

The “imminent threat” lie

The Trump administration has argued that there was an imminent threat to U.S. troops in the region. When Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio was asked to detail the threat, he said that, “It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, … they were going to respond and respond against the United States. If we stood and waited for that attack to come first, before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces.”

So, Rubio is arguing that we had to attack Iran because otherwise Israel, beyond our control, was going to attack Iran and precipitate an attack on U.S. troops in the region. That, he argued, was the “imminent threat.”

The circular reasoning here is fallacious to the point that one would think it was spoken by a kindergartener. 

There can’t be an imminent threat spurred by something you yourself have control of. 

Moreover, just last June, we saw Trump literally force Israeli warplanes to reverse course mid-flight. He is more than capable of stopping an Israeli attack before one happens. Netanyahu would not dare spit in Trump’s face in that manner. 

The U.S. was well aware that Iran had no plans to attack it. On Sunday, the Pentagon revealed, in a congressional briefing, that there was no intelligence in American possession whatsoever that indicated Iran was planning an attack. There simply was no imminent threat.

The “underground missiles” lie

“They’re totally fanatic about this, about the goal of destroying America. So they started building new sites, new places, underground bunkers that would make their ballistic missile programs and their atomic bomb programs immune within months if no action was taken.”

That was Netanyahu spelling out his cover story for this war of choice. This is a different kind of lie: it’s not exactly false, but it is decontextualized and deeply misleading. 

Iran was reinforcing its underground facilities. This is only sensible. They had been attacked in June by two nuclear powers, both of which are militarily much stronger, especially in terms of air power, than Iran. 

Iran was obviously aware that their nuclear facilities and ballistic missile stock and program were the main targets. Building underground facilities for the nuclear program and missiles is simply good sense, and absolutely Iran’s right. Further, all the United States had to do regarding the nuclear program was strike an agreement with Iran, and the IAEA would have had full access to the underground nuclear facilities.

Again, the idea that this justifies an unprovoked attack is absurd and well outside what is permissible under international law.

The Pahlavi lie

I’m using Reza Pahlavi, the son of the long-deposed Shah of Iran, as a marker for the general lack of any vision of what happens as a result of this criminal attack.

For Israel, this question is less pressing. While an Iran that looks like Syria or Libya would mean considerably less security for Israeli citizens, that is not a bad thing from Netanyahu’s point of view. His brand of demagoguery literally feeds off the fear of the citizens he rules, and threats only enhance his ability to eliminate the democracy that exists for Jews in Israel. 

For the U.S., it’s a more pressing matter, yet one they apparently haven’t thought through. 

They seem initially to have believed that Pahlavi could be brought in to lead Iran in place of the Islamic Republic, although Trump has expressed his lack of confidence in Pahlavi. He offered flowery words about being a stopgap leader who was simply going to usher in a new, pro-Western, pro-Israel, Iranian democracy.

But let’s recall who Pahlavi is. His father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a brutal dictator, reinstalled by the United States in 1953 after the democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, was ousted in a CIA-backed coup.

Pahlavi himself lived in exile from the time his father was ousted, and after his father’s death, he named himself the new king of Iran. In 1982, Pahlavi was part of a plot, backed by the U.S. and Israel, to launch a coup in Iran, but it was abandoned when the Israeli leadership changed and the new prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, thought the venture unwise. There are other instances like this in his history.

Pahlavi denies being connected to Israel or to American intelligence, but that is hardly credible. He is the son of a monarch, and his calls for democracy, given his history, ring hollow. More to the point, while there are some who have called his name during protests, Pahlavi, like other exiled Iranian figures and groups, has no coordinated support within Iran.

The Trump administration is currently encouraging Kurdish and other ethnic militias to help overthrow the Islamic Republic government, but the efforts have thus far been met with skepticism. That’s not surprising given the American history of abandoning such people after they rise up, reinforced only recently during the protests in Iran. 

The truth is, the United States has no idea what will happen if the Iranian government does fall. They are killing one leader after another, thinking they will eventually find someone who will work with the U.S. as Delcy Rodriguez has in Venezuela. I’m aware of no one who actually studies Iran who thinks that is going to happen. It’s even less likely now that he’s killed most of the people he thought might fit that bill. 

Deception is the main characteristic of American planning here, and one aspect of that is self-deception. Trump has allowed Netanyahu to convince him to engage in this foolish and reckless endeavor. It says much that none of Trump’s predecessors, going all the way back to the days of Ronald Reagan, were this stupid.

Make no mistake, this is an American war, even as it fulfills Netanyahu’s dearest and oldest dream. Trump was not forced or even tricked into this. He, and others on his staff (chiefly Marco Rubio) are flush with their apparent success in Venezuela, and Trump has visions of going down in history as the man who eliminated the hated Islamic Republic, a target of widespread, bipartisan American scorn since 1979.

There was never any possibility of a diplomatic resolution, as evidenced by what Iran offered just before Israel struck the first blow. For both Israel and the Trump administration, this war is rooted in the deep desire to eliminate the one country that has defied American and Israeli hegemony for years. The threat of a nuclear weapon is a lie, the concern about Iran’s quite abysmal human rights record is a complete sham. 

It’s a war of choice, built on lies. We’ve been here before, two decades ago. Most Americans learned a lesson from that, which is why so few support this calamity. Unfortunately, the ones making the decisions are among the few who learned nothing. 

March 7, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment