Trump's JCPOA Exit Enabled Iran to Amass More Enriched Uranium

 
Iran Sure Has Amassed a Lot of Enriched Uranium Since Trump Pulled Out of Nuclear Deal
Nikki McCann Ramirez
Fri, May 1, 2026


[Iznogood's caption: Flat-headed moron elected to the presidency by a herd of middle American buffalo morons]

Congress grilled Pete Hegseth this week over the lack of progress ending the war in Iran — and things got ugly.

The defense secretary was repeatedly pressed about the Trump administration’s ever-changing, contradictory rationale for their decision to initiate the now-months-long conflict, particularly the claim that the Middle Eastern nation was on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon.

“Do you know how much enriched uranium was [created] after you ripped up the JCPOA?” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) asked Hegseth, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal the Obama administration struck with Iran that restricted the nation’s nuclear development capabilities.

Hegseth claimed the information is classified, but according to a new report from the The New York Times, there are fairly good estimates about how much enriched uranium Iran began producing after Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal during his first administration. Now, nearly a decade after pulling out of a negotiated agreement, Trump is once again facing the long tail of his own recklessness.

According to the Times, in the eight years since Trump scuttled the JCPOA, Iran has accumulated 11 tons of enriched uranium — up from the 660-pound limit imposed by the previous deal. In 2018, when the president pulled out of the deal, Iran did not have enough materials to produce even one bomb. Now, it has not only increased the amount of enriched uranium in its stockpiles exponentially, but the grade of enrichment has also skyrocketed to levels just short of the necessary grade to create a nuclear weapon.

Still, the Trump administration’s claims that the current conflict was necessary because Iran posed an imminent nuclear debt remain dubious. There is no evidence that the Iranians have developed a nuclear weapon. The argument that Iran was weeks away from having a nuclear weapon when the U.S. and Israel attacked in February have been contradicted repeatedly by the Trump administration, which has said the nation’s nuclear capabilities were “obliterated” during a series of targeted strikes last year. Hegseth repeated this to lawmakers this week, adding that Iran’s “ambitions” to develop a nuclear weapon remain.

The primary problem is not just that Iran has this stockpile of uranium, but that amid the conflict with the U.S. and Israel, they may have moved it to new locations unknown to the U.S. and international monitors.

On Friday morning, during a routine Pentagon briefing, Hegseth lashed out at his former Fox News colleague Jennifer Griffin — a veteran Pentagon reporter and chief national security correspondent at the network — when she asked if the Pentagon had “certainty” that “none of that highly enriched uranium was moved,” from the Iranian nuclear facilities that were attacked last year.

Hegseth deflected, instead attacking Griffin. “Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally,” the secretary said.

It’s how the Department of Defense and the Trump administration have handled virtually all questions about the war. They are right, everyone else is wrong, victory is in hand, and yet the war must continue.

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NY Times Reveals Eye-Popping Uranium Stockpile Iran Amassed After Trump Pulled Out of Nuke Deal – Now It’s Missing
David Gilmour
Fri, May 1, 2026 


Iran accumulated roughly 11 tons of enriched uranium over the past eight years since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal, but much of it is now unaccounted for after recent military strikes.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Iran accumulated roughly 11 tons of enriched uranium over the past eight years since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal, but much of it is now unaccounted for after recent military strikes.

A New York Times investigation released on Friday uses quarterly reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to track the scale of the stockpile, finding Tehran steadily expanded its nuclear capacity after Trump exited the landmark accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

At that time, Iran had far less than a single bomb’s worth of enriched uranium under strict limits imposed by the deal.

The investigation found this changed rapidly and Tehran first breached caps on low-level enrichment, then escalated to 20% purity in 2021, a threshold widely seen as a critical step toward weapons-grade material. Enrichment climbed further to 60% in the following years, bringing Iran within reach of the 90% level typically required for nuclear arms.

Efforts by former President Joe Biden’s administration to revive the deal failed as Iran continued to expand both the size and purity of its stockpile. By 2025, according to the findings, growth had accelerated to its fastest pace since international monitoring began.

This changed again in June 2025, when Trump, by then re-elected, launched Operation Midnight Hammer, strikes on key nuclear facilities, including Natanz, Fordow and storage tunnels near Isfahant. Weeks later, Iran halted cooperation with the IAEA, cutting off on-the-ground inspections and leaving much of the stockpile’s status unverified.

Some material is believed to be buried under debris from the bombed facilities or stored in hardened underground sites, though this cannot be independently confirmed. While satellite surveillance continues, experts say it is difficult to determine the precise condition or accessibility of the uranium.

Officials in the Trump administration have argued that the remaining stockpile is of limited immediate use due to damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

However, according to the report, analysts warn that the possibility of undisclosed enrichment sites cannot be ruled out, particularly near Isfahan, where large portions of the uranium are thought to have been stored.