A hidden stockpile of highly enriched uranium in Iran's mountains has become the defining issue of America's war against the theocratic regime. 18 to 20 scuba-tank-like canisters containing up to 55 pounds each of nuclear material could determine whether Iran becomes a nuclear-armed state. This stockpile, amassed over decades at a cost of billions, survived U.S.-led air attacks and now poses an urgent dilemma.

The confrontation has been building for years, with Iran enriching uranium beyond 20 percent purity after President Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal. By last June, Iran had amassed an estimated 970 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity - bringing it within days of producing weapons-grade material. The International Atomic Energy Agency has independently verified this stockpile, unlike the false intelligence that led to Iraq's invasion.

Securing these canisters would require deploying American or Israeli ground forces, a high-risk operation that experts say is unavoidable. David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security, warns the stockpile gives whoever emerges in power "a residual nuclear weapons capability." Without a plan to seize, destroy, or secure this material, Iran will almost certainly accelerate toward becoming a nuclear-armed state.