JD Vance ducked a Fox News host’s question on the whereabouts of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles, after suggesting a day earlier they could have been moved.
Experts fear Iran may have secretly removed near-weapons-grade uranium before the U.S. dropped bunker-busting bombs on three key nuclear complexes Saturday.
Highly enriched uranium—usually over 90 percent purity—is powerful enough to fuel a nuclear bomb. There is evidence, Israeli officials told The New York Times, that Iranians shifted 880 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity before the U.S. strikes. The purpose of the attack was to take out Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. Despite many unanswered questions, President Donald Trump claims that objective has been achieved.
“The president has said [they] ‘totally obliterated’ the Iran nuclear program,” Fox News host Bret Baier said to Vance on Monday’s live interview, which took place moments after Trump announced Israel and Iran had reached a ceasefire agreement after more than a week of open conflict.
“Do you know for sure where all the highly enriched uranium is?” he added.
The vice president sidestepped.
“Well Bret, I think that’s actually not the question before us,” he said. “The question is, can Iran enrich the uranium to weapons-grade level, and can they convert that fuel to a nuclear weapon?”
“And we know, based on the success of our mission, of course, the leadership of the president, but the incredible skill of our military, that the two mission objectives are completely successful,” he went on. “We know that they cannot build a nuclear weapon.”
He suggested the U.S. strikes had “buried” the uranium stockpiles and damaged the equipment required to convert them into a bomb.
“Our goal was to bury the uranium, and I do think the uranium is buried,” he said. “But our goal was to eliminate the enrichment and eliminate their ability to convert that enriched fuel into a nuclear weapon.”
“So many of the folks who have focused on the highly enriched uranium,” he added. “The main focus, Bret, has been to destroy their enrichment capacity because we don’t want that 60 percent uranium to become 90 percent uranium.”
He argued that eliminating Iran’s ability to convert the fuel to a weapon constitutes a “mission success.”
“That is the obliteration of their nuclear program. Which is why the president, I think rightly, is using that term,” he said.
Thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, the Iranian nuclear program has been obliterated and the 12 Day War is over.This is a historic moment and a massive step toward lasting peace in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/M8qX2ArvBh
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 24, 2025
On Sunday, Vance set off speculation after he hinted on ABC News’ This Week that Iran could still be in possession of nearly 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
“We’re going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel,” he said when asked about it. “And that’s one of the things that we’re going to have conversations with the Iranians about.”
Satellite imagery from last week showed 16 trucks near an entrance to the Fordo nuclear site, raising concerns that uranium or other critical equipment could have been removed.
Analysts also say it’s possible that Iran has previously undisclosed nuclear facilities. Vance’s opaque answer only adds to concerns that key elements of Iran’s nuclear program may have survived the strikes.
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