Members of Congress want to know where Iran’s enriched uranium went
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) speaks to reporters during a break from a Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations joint briefing on the U.S. policy on Afghanistan, on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 2, 2022.
Al Drago | Reuters
Several members of Congress are questioning what has become of Iran’s stock of enriched uranium in the days since the U.S. damaged three nuclear facilities with airstrikes and bombs.
Atomic energy watchdogs estimate that Iran has at least 9 kilos of uranium enriched to 60%, a level that could relatively easily be further enriched to 90%, or weapons grade.
Republican Rep. Scott Perry, Penn., told CNN he suspects Iran still has enriched uranium even after the American strikes. “I will put it this way. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it still exists,” he said.
Perry told CNN’s John Berman he also believed Iran was still “a terrorist regime.”
“So after these 12 days there is still a terrorist regime in power with enriched uranium?” Berman asked.
“That is absolutely true. Yeah, I think that’s a correct characterization,” said Perry.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal is also concerned about the threat that Iran’s enriched uranium poses to the United States.
Blumenthal told NBC he wants the administration to tell senators “how effective the strikes against the Iranian nuclear capability have been. Where is the enriched uranium that seemingly was removed from Fordo?”
“I believe deeply that a nuclear armed Iran is a threat to the entire world, including the United States, but confronting that threat requires a strategy as well as strength. I see no indication of a coherent strategy here. The president needs to explain to the American people as well as to Congress what the strategy is,” said Blumenthal.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, speaks to members of the media prior to a vote at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, June 23, 2025.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is arguing that the War Powers Act, a Nixon-era law limiting the president’s power to unilaterally wage war, is unconstitutional.
Johnson also vowed that a pending resolution to bar U.S. military action in Iran under that law will not pass the House.
The Speaker told reporters that Trump’s decision to order strikes on Iranian nuclear targets over the weekend was “clearly” within his powers under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
He said he agreed with scholars who believe that the War Powers Resolution of 1973 violates Article II.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., alongside Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, last week introduced a War Powers resolution that would bar the U.S. military from “unauthorized hostilities” in Iran. But Massie said Monday evening that he would not advance his resolution if the Iran-Israel ceasefire holds, Politico reported.
Read more about Johnson’s War Powers Act dilemma here.
— Kevin Breuninger
Vice Admiral Charles Cooper II, Trump’s nominee to serve as commander of U.S. Central Command, warns of an “emerging axis” among Iran, North Korea, Russia and China.
“We’ve certainly seen the tactical implications of support from Iran to Russia,” he said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We’ve seen tactical implications of Chinese companies providing sensors and weapons and components to Iran, who ship them to the Houthis who shoot them at Americans,” he added.
“I think we need to call those types of things out more, but clearly that emerging foursome, that axis, is one that we need to pay attention to.”
— Erin Doherty
FILE PHOTO: An Israeli gas platform, controlled by a U.S.-Israeli energy group, is seen in the Mediterranean sea, some 15 miles (24 km) west of Israel’s port city of Ashdod, in this file picture taken February 25, 2013.
Amir Cohen | Reuters
Oil prices have fallen sharply now that Trump says China can keep buying oil from Iran, a sign that the U.S. is easing its maximum pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic in the wake of a ceasefire with Israel.
Global benchmark Brent fell $4.14, or 5.79%, to $67.34 per barrel by 11:55 a.m. ET. U.S. crude oil was last down $3.97, or 5.79%, to $65.54 a barrel. Prices closed 7% lower on Monday as the oil market bet that the conflict in the Middle East was winding down.
“China can now continue to purchase Oil from Iran,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. “Hopefully, they will be purchasing plenty from the U.S., also. It was my Great Honor to make this happen!”
— Spencer Kimball
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks after meeting with the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris, on Jan. 8, 2025.
Ludovic Marin | Via Reuters
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken is calling the U.S.’s weekend missile strike on Iran nuclear sites “unwise and unnecessary” in a new New York Times op-ed.
“Now that it’s done, I very much hope it succeeded,” Blinken, who served under former President Joe Biden, wrote.
“I can only hope that we inflicted maximum damage — damage that gives the president the leverage he needs to finally deliver the deal he has so far failed to achieve,” he wrote.
– Laya Neelakandan
A former Defense Department official says the next phase in the Iran-Israel conflict will be at the negotiating table.
Michèle Flournoy, WestExec Advisors co-founder and managing partner and former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Obama administration, said the focus now should be on putting pressure on both sides.
The key is to assess how much damage was actually done to Iran’s nuclear programs and determine whether Iran will come to the negotiating table “more seriously than it did before,” she told CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“I understand that we all want to sigh a big sigh of relief today with the ceasefire, but this is far from over as yet,” she added.
– Laya Neelakandan
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press conference following the U.S. Senate Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 10, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
Two classified briefings for Congress on Iran that were scheduled for this afternoon have been postponed, NBC News’ Frank Thorp reports.
The decision to postpone the briefings comes as a fragile ceasefire appears to be taking hold, and both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are in the Netherlands with Trump to attend the NATO summit.
It was unclear when the House briefing would be held, but the Senate briefing is scheduled for Thursday.
Thorp notes this will be the first classified briefing since the U.S. strikes last weekend to which all members of Congress are invited, not just a small group of intelligence committee leaders and party leadership.
— Christina Wilkie
President Donald Trump speaks to press before his departure at the White House to route The Hague, Netherlands on June 24, 2025, in Washington D.C. to attend NATO Summit in Netherlands.
Celal Gunes | Anadolu | Getty Images
Trump is claiming in a new Truth Social post that Israel and Iran both desired a ceasefire after more than a week of exchanging rocket fire.
“Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally! It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!”
While U.S. bombing did significant damage to three nuclear facilities, it did not eliminate Iran’s enriched uranium. U.S. intelligence officials have admitted in recent days they do not know where much of that material is being stored.
— Christina Wilkie
