Morning AF 6/27/2025

Where’s the Uranium, Mr. President?

By Michael Popok

As each day passes, it becomes increasingly clear: the Trump administration has no idea where Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile currently resides. One thing is certain—it’s not at Fordo, the facility just carpet-bombed with a dozen bunker-busting bombs, allegedly to destroy Iran’s nuclear capacity. Think about that: if the administration genuinely believed uranium was still being stored there, would they have obliterated the site? How do you destroy a facility and simultaneously claim it still houses the very material you’re targeting?

The truth is, this operation reeks of distraction. Desperate to shift attention from an intelligence failure of his own making, Donald Trump lashes out—not at Iran, not at the shortcomings of his own military strategy, but at the press. CNN and The New York Times are now in his crosshairs for having the audacity to report on what his own intelligence agencies already know.

According to that intelligence—shared with Tulsi Gabbard, now inexplicably in charge of overseeing 14 intelligence agencies—the mission may have delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions by a matter of months. That’s it. Months. Not years. Not permanently. And instead of owning that sobering reality, the administration sent Pete Hegseth, a loyalist with no real intel credentials, to a press conference to attack the press, not to provide clarity or evidence of success.

Alongside him stood General Cain, another political appointee-turned-mouthpiece. Neither offered meaningful insight into the actual impact of the strike. Americans are left asking the one question no one in the administration will answer: Where is the uranium?

Why didn’t they target the fourth suspected site—Pickaxe Mountain?

Yes, Pickaxe Mountain. Satellite imagery revealed trucks leaving Fordo just before the bombing began. Experts believe that’s where the uranium was moved. That’s the location now drawing serious scrutiny. And yet, the administration didn’t touch it. Why?

Instead of focusing on that, Trump is once again playing legal whack-a-mole. He’s retained Alejandro Brito, a Coral Gables attorney best known for a failed defamation case against Michael Cohen and a settled suit against ABC over a George Stephanopoulos misstatement. Brito is now threatening The Times’ General Counsel, David McCraw—a lawyer I’ve worked with personally and know to be a first-rate First Amendment defender.

McCraw responded with force and clarity: The Times stands by its reporting. The article was based on a classified intelligence assessment. It was factual. And they’re not retracting a word.

It’s now been nearly a week since the strike, and the American public still hasn’t received a credible damage assessment. Why? Because the intelligence community doesn’t know. Because Trump hollowed out the very institutions responsible for that analysis. He doesn’t trust Tulsi Gabbard. He certainly doesn’t trust the CIA. And with John Ratcliffe overseeing intelligence? It’s a farce.

There was no intelligence in the planning, the execution, or the aftermath of this mission. None. Zero.

Instead, we’re watching the same playbook unfold: attack the press, file empty lawsuits, and vilify anyone who dares question the narrative. Trump’s lawyers accuse The Times of undermining the president’s credibility—by accurately reporting a leaked intelligence report. That’s not defamation. That’s journalism.

And even The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, is now reporting what many experts suspect: the real uranium cache is at Pickaxe Mountain. That site may be buried over 600 feet underground—deeper than Fordo, the equivalent of a 50-story building flipped upside down. But the administration didn’t go after it.

Why?

It would only take 16 hot-water-heater-sized containers to store Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile—roughly 418 kilograms’ worth. Satellite images showed trucks leaving Fordo before the bombing. Are we to believe they didn’t move it?

Even Senator Marco Rubio expressed surprise that Israel didn’t target every major site, including Pickaxe. But they didn’t—not before the trucks were spotted, and certainly not after.

Now, reports suggest Trump is scrambling to recover diplomatically. Word has it he’s floated a $30 billion package to Iran in exchange for rebuilding a “civilian” nuclear program. A peace offering dressed as a policy pivot. He knows this wasn’t the win he claimed it to be.

So I’ll ask it again, Mr. President, plainly and publicly: Where is the uranium?