The Sapphire Secret: Can the U.S. Use a Chilly Struggle Spy Blueprint to Snatch – JP
Why Iran Would Be Different and Far Riskier
While Project Sapphire offers a hopeful precedent, the experts interviewed by 60 Minutes were unanimous: repeating anything similar in Iran today would be exponentially more difficult and dangerous.
Iran’s remaining HEU is believed to be stored in deep underground tunnels, particularly at the Isfahan facility, protected by hardened bunkers and layers of defense. Unlike cooperative Kazakhstan in 1994, Iran has long anticipated a possible American attempt to seize its nuclear material and has prepared accordingly.
“You would need to set up in the middle of the country a secure perimeter,” Weber warned. “It would probably take thousands of U.S. troops to secure the facility while our experts excavated the HEU that’s located inside deep tunnels.”
Nuclear nonproliferation expert Dr. Matthew Bunn of Harvard’s Belfer Center added that while recent U.S. and Israeli strikes damaged Iranian facilities and slowed progress, “you can’t bomb away their knowledge” or eliminate the existing enriched stockpile.
Bunn noted that the 970 pounds of 60% enriched uranium already documented is enough, after a final enrichment step, for 10 to 11 nuclear weapons. With inspectors blocked since mid-2025, the actual amount may now be higher.
A sobering reality check
The 60 Minutes segment arrives at a delicate moment. A fragile two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is nearing its expiration, diplomatic talks continue in the shadow of Pakistani mediation, and naval incidents in the Gulf of Oman have raised fears that the truce could collapse.
As the report makes clear, even a successful military campaign against Iran’s nuclear sites would leave behind a dangerous legacy: enriched uranium that cannot be destroyed from the air and knowledge that cannot be erased by bombs.
Whether through diplomacy, a high-risk covert raid, or continued military pressure, the fate of Iran’s HEU may ultimately determine whether the current conflict ends in a negotiated settlement or something far more dangerous.
The 1994 mission succeeded because of secrecy, cooperation, and a small, highly skilled team working under ideal conditions. In Iran, those conditions simply do not exist.
As one expert put it: Project Sapphire was a blueprint but turning the page to Iran would require an entirely different and far more perilous chapter.