Did Iran outsmart America? Trump's White House denies Tehran hid uranium stockpile before US Strikes

The Trump White House on Wednesday (Jun 25) hit back at reports that Iran may have moved a large stockpile of enriched uranium ahead of US airstrikes. The denial comes as a growing row intensifies over how much the bombing campaign actually set back Tehran's nuclear program. Facing scrutiny over a leaked US intelligence assessment that suggested only limited damage was done to Iran's deeply buried nuclear infrastructure, President Donald Trump and his administration have gone on the offensive — publicly rejecting the findings and attacking the media. During an interview, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the reports were false.

What did Leavitt say?

Speaking during a Fox News interview, the White House Press Secretary insisted, "I can tell you, the United States had no indication that that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strikes, as I also saw falsely reported".

"As for what's on the ground right now, it's buried under miles and miles of rubble because of the success of these strikes on Saturday evening," she added.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance offered a more cautious take on Sunday. Appearing on a ABC News programme, he said that the administration would "work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel" purportedly referring to the 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of 60 per cent-enriched uranium reportedly in Iran's stockpile.

The uranium in question, enriched to 60%, falls short of weapons-grade but is far above civilian-use levels, and could be rapidly refined if Iran chose to sprint toward a bomb.

Where is Iran's uranium stockpile?

The conflicting statements come as international observers question whether Iran managed to relocate nuclear materials before the strikes — possibly to secret facilities across the vast country.

The UN's atomic watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed it has lost visibility on the uranium since the bombing began. Speaking to France 2 television agency chief Rafael Grossi confirmed "The IAEA lost visibility on this material the moment hostilities began". He added that "I don't want to give the impression that it’s been lost or hidden."

Trump lashes out, officials close ranks

The US military said that it dropped 14 massive GBU-57 "bunker buster" bombs on Iran's Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan sites — but an early, classified assessment first reported by CNN suggested the nuclear programme may have only been delayed by a few months, not years.

An infuriated Trump insisted that the attack had completely "obliterated" the facilities and blasted the reporting on his Truth Social platform. Demanding CNN fire the journalist behind the story, he also slammed CNN and the New York Times as "fake news" and "failing". He also announced that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth would hold a Thursday press conference to "fight for the dignity of our great American pilots".

CIA Director John Radcliffe added to the administration's pushback, saying intelligence from a "historically reliable" source indicated that "several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years."

Iran, for its part, has admitted that its nuclear sites were "badly damaged"— but has not confirmed how much damage it experienced.