No intel Iran moved uranium: US defense chief

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes, amid continuing questions about the state of Iran's nuclear programme.

- Reuters

Reuters [e-mail] WASHINGTON:

US military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities early on Sunday local time using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.

The results of the strikes are being closely watched to see how far they may have set back Iran's nuclear programme, after President Donald Trump said it had been obliterated. "I'm not aware of any intelligence that I've reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise," Hegseth told an often fiery news conference.

Trump, who watched Hegseth's exchange with reporters, echoed his defense secretary, saying it would have taken too long to remove anything.

"The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of the facility," Trump wrote on his social media platform, without providing evidence.

Several experts have cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes, and could be hiding it in unknown locations.

They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing "unusual activity" at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance to the facility.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the 60% highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the attack.