Iran oil pressure strategy is 'appealing but incomplete', former hostage says

The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely still stored at the Isfahan nuclear complex, which was hit in airstrikes during last year’s 12-day war and again targeted in later US-Israeli attacks, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said, according to The Associated Press.

In an interview with AP on Wednesday, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said satellite imagery and ongoing intelligence assessments suggest the material remains at the facility.

Grossi said the agency believes a large portion of Iran’s highly enriched uranium was stored at the site when the conflict began and has likely remained there since, noting that inspectors have been unable to verify the status of the material or confirm the integrity of IAEA seals.

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Wednesday Iran funded as many as 24 militant groups and described Washington’s policy as an effort to cut off what he called terrorism financing through an intensified economic and energy pressure campaign.

Doug Burgum made the remarks in an interview with broadcaster Hugh Hewitt, saying Iran should be viewed as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operating an oil-based state, and arguing that US measures are aimed at blocking funding for regional and global proxy groups.

"Iran, which basically, it’s not, we should stop calling it Iran. We should just call it the IRGC. We’ve got a terrorist organization with an oil field, and they’ve been militarily defeated, as President Trump describes. But now, with Scott Bessent, with Economic Fury, we have to stop them from being able to fund terrorism and fund exporting terrorism around the world," Burgum said.

"I mean, they were funding as many as 24 different terror groups with oil money. So the blockade is not just a physical blockade, it’s also an economic blockade to ensure that they don’t have the cash to keep raining terror and holding the whole world hostage," he added.

US Senator Shelley Moore Capito said on Wednesday she fully supports President Donald Trump’s efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, calling for renewed negotiations with Tehran.

"I remain in full support of President Trump efforts to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. It’s time for a defeated Iran to come the table and negotiate a deal that makes the world safer and keeps the Strait of Hormuz open," Capito said.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said NATO allies failed to provide adequate support for recent US operations involving Iran, warning that Washington “will remember” their response.

In written testimony released on Wednesday Hegseth called for a “NATO 3.0” focused on warfighting and greater burden-sharing, saying allies must “step up” on collective defense commitments.

Hegseth said European partners share US interests in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but criticized what he described as their “unconscionable” response to recent operations.

Representative Joe Wilson on Wednesday urged Israel to turn away Russian shipments carrying what he described as stolen Ukrainian grain, warning that such purchases would indirectly support Moscow’s war effort and Iran’s regional agenda.

In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Wilson, a Republican co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, said buying the grain would “incentivize Russia’s war machine” while also benefiting Iran.

"As co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, I am grateful to bring attention to war criminal Putin’s support for the Iranian regime’s Death to America, Death to Israel agenda. Blood-soaked grain, stolen from temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine, must be rejected," Wilson said.