‘Game’s not over’: Iran says still got enriched uranium, will continue nuclear programme
The game is not over, said a close aide of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, adding that the country still has stocks of enriched uranium amid global concerns over the whereabouts of the vital nuclear component after US strikes on three Iranian facilities on June 21.
This handout satellite picture taken and provided by Maxar Technologies taken on June 22, 2025 shows an overview of Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) after US air strikes were conducted on the facility.(AFP)
The Donald Trump-led US administration carried out strikes at the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz uranium enrichment facilities of Iran on Saturday. Trump said the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” the nuclear facilities targeted using bunker buster bombs that were dropped by B-2 bombers. Follow Iran Israel conflict live updates
Iran’s government said Tuesday it had “taken the necessary measures” to ensure the continuation of its nuclear programme after US and Israeli strikes targeted its facilities, AFP news agency reported.
“We have taken the necessary measures and are taking stock of the damage” caused by the strikes, AFP quoted as saying the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, in a statement aired on state television.
“Plans for restarting (the facilities) have been prepared in advance, and our strategy is to ensure that production and services are not disrupted,” he added.
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said his country still had stocks of enriched uranium and that “the game is not over”.
US acknowledges uranium still with Iran
Amid global question mark over the location of Iran’s uranium, US officials seem to have admitted that Tehran’s stockpile of the vital nuclear component remains unaccounted for.
When asked about what happened to the 400 kg highly enriched uranium that Iran had, US Vice President JD Vance said in an interview to ABC News on Monday that the administration “would work in the coming weeks to do something about the fuel and would have conversations with the Iranians.”
US Vice President JD Vance seemingly acknowledged on Sunday that the uranium might still be with Iran.
In another interview to Fox News, Vance said that the Iran’s uranium stockpile might be buried beneath the three enrichment facilities struck by the US over the weekend.
“Our goal was to bury the uranium, and I do think the uranium is buried…” Vance told Fox News, adding that the US had also wanted to eliminate the stockpile, as well as to destroy Iran’s ability to convert the enriched fuel into a nuclear weapon.
Israel-Iran ceasefire
Israel attacked Iran on June 13, hitting Iranian nuclear sites and killing the top brass of its military command in the worst threat faced by the Islamic Republic since war with Iraq in the 1980s. Israel said it carried out the strikes, under Operation Rising Lion, to stop Iran from going further with its nuclear plans.
Iran carried out retaliatory missile strikes on Israel. Trump entered the war on Saturday with strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, one buried deep inside a mountain, using huge bombs that Israel does not possess.
Trump on Tuesday announced that Iran and Israel reached a ceasefire deal. “On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR’,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
