Delta Force's greatest challenge

Clad in radiation-protection suits and full-facial respirators, America’s elite special forces units have been training for this moment for years. Despite all the talk of behind-the-scenes peace negotiations, the seizure by force of Iran’s hidden 440.9 kilos of 60-per-cent-enriched uranium is still one of the primary options awaiting a decision by President Trump. The US Army’s Delta Force, modelled on Britain’s SAS, has carried out exercises every year to rehearse the removal of nuclear, chemical or biological materials in hostile conditions. The search for and safe extraction of Iran’s highest-enriched uranium, contained in the form of uranium hexafluoride gas inside portable pressurised steel canisters, would be Delta Force’s greatest challenge since it was formed in 1977. The mission, if approved by Trump, could also involve either of the two other special combat units trained and experienced in handling nuclear products: the Green Berets and 75th Ranger Regiment. The decision by Trump to deploy to the Middle East about 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division’s immediate response force suggests their role could be to join two 4,400-strong US marine expeditionary units, also en route, in providing a security perimeter around the nuclear sites where the canisters of enriched uranium are believed to be buried. The dispatching of elements of 82nd Airborne Division which was among the last military units to leave Afghanistan in the chaotic withdrawal of August, 2021, has already caused alarm among former members of the 82nd. “Paratroopers always get the job done. I know because I also served in this division,” ex-Captain Jason Crow disclosed. “I also know what it’s like to be deployed with no clear strategy and end game. Americans deserve better,” he wrote on his Facebook page this week. Jason Crow, 47, is now the Democratic Representative for the 6th district of Colorado and serves on the House intelligence and armed services committees. He saw combat in Afghanistan and Iraq with 82nd Airborne and 75th Ranger Regiment. About 200 kilos of enriched uranium are believed to be buried in an underground steel-walled bunker at the nuclear Isfahan site, 270 miles south of Tehran. Isfahan was one of three nuclear sites targeted by the US and Israel in the 12-day war last June. The remainder of the 440.9 kilos could be underground at Fordow, about 100 miles south of the capital. The special forces units would operate with a US Army Nuclear Disablement Team (NDT) which is part of 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Explosives Command. There are three NDTs, all based in Maryland. Equipped with Geiger counters, they are trained to disable enemy nuclear capabilities. However, despite all this expertise, is it feasible to consider a special operations mission to remove the canisters; and what if some of the uranium – only 30 per cent of enrichment away from being fissile material for a bomb - has been withdrawn to another underground facility? Such as the one designated “Pickaxe Mountain”, a mile from the Natanz uranium-enrichment plant, southwest of the capital. Moreover, would 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd and 4,400 marines be enough to support the special forces’ mission? The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which has responsibility for protecting Iran’s nuclear sites, has been targeted by US and Israeli bombing. But before the war began it was more than 150,000-strong. A former senior US commander who served with the 82nd said: “I don’t even know where they [the airborne troops] can safely stage, much less what they might do. “I can see where paratroopers and marines might deploy on the ground in or off the coast of Iran but I think the risks in securing them once there would be enormous.” If the operation by Delta Force in January to capture Nicolas Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, is anything to go by, there will be an awesome display of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and drones overseeing the mission. More than 150 aircraft were used for the seizing of Maduro. Air assets currently part of the operation against Iran include U-2 spy planes, RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, E-11A communications aircraft, often called high-altitude WiFi platforms, MQ-9 surveillance and attack Reaper drones; and two key low-flying ground attack aircraft, A-10 gunships and Apache helicopters, both armed with rapid-fire cannons to target IRGC troops. “Everything would depend on the intelligence, not just of the location of the enriched uranium but where helicopters can land with troops in a secure area, and the positions of the IRGC units,” said a former British special forces soldier who has trained with Delta Force. “The Israelis will play a key role. They have agents everywhere in Iran who are pro-US and pro-Israel who will guide them.,” he said. “Provided the area where the uranium is buried is secured, the US special forces teams can take as long as they need to extract it. In exercises in the US, Delta Force used to use a giant balloon to lift up a dummy nuclear device, and a C-130 Hercules aircraft with a special fork-shaped contraption sticking out at the front would fly over and hook it up. In Iran, they would use helicopters to fly the canisters off to a ship. “The American special forces use Pegasus [Israeli-made spyware capable of infiltrating all mobile devices] to intercept everything on the ground. It’s a phenominal system and will allow the units to be kept informed of Iranian leadership command decisions” US Central Command which is in charge of Operation Epic Fury – codename for the strikes on Iran – is also now equipped with the Maven smart system, a battlefield management, artificial intelligence “military brain”. The AI software platform has revolutionised ground warfare, making it possible to collect huge amounts of data, analyse it and identify targets in less than a minute. It will help simplify what will otherwise be a highly complex ground operation. “Despite all the advances in technology and the training for this sort of operation, I find it difficult to believe they will risk a ground operation of this sort,” the former special forces soldier said. “There is also one crucial curve ball and that is that China and Russia will be helping the Iranians, especially the Chinese with their satellites, supplying intelligence to Iran,” he said. PLEASE BUY AGENT REDRUTH, MY NEW SPY THRILLER. AMAZON, WATERSTONES, ROWANVALE BOOKS