The first signs of trouble appeared when a satellite image showed 16 trucks quietly parked outside Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility days before the US assault. By the time six American bunker-busting bombs hit the mountainside bunker and two other major nuclear sites, the trucks had vanished.

Iran had built the Fordow facility deep inside a mountain near the ancient capital of Isfahan, and it was believed to be virtually impregnable. But Washington and Tel Aviv focused not on what the strikes hit—but on what they missed.

US Vice President JD Vance said that 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity had gone missing. He told ABC News that it was unaccounted for and could potentially be enough to make up to 10 nuclear weapons.

Israel, citing intelligence shared with The New York Times, said Iran may have quietly moved the stockpile along with key equipment before the strikes. Post-strike satellite images confirmed extensive damage to Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. But the trucks seen earlier did not appear in those images.

US President Donald Trump told ABC on the morning of the attack that the US was not involved, but said it was possible they could be. He said he still hoped Iran and Israel could reach a deal before it was too late.

Within hours, seven B-2 bombers flew nonstop from Missouri in a 37-hour radio-silent mission. They dropped bunker busters and Tomahawk decoys. Trump later said the mission had completely and totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear program. But with the uranium missing, others raised doubts.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Takht Ravanchi said no one could tell them what to do. He threatened that Iran could pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in retaliation.

At the United Nations, IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi said the rising conflict had halted inspections. He said inspections were essential and indispensable for verifying Iran’s nuclear status. The last IAEA visit to Fordow took place a week before Israel’s first strike.

In Washington, intelligence assessments remained contradictory. A senior US official told CNN that Iran had all the necessary ingredients for a weapon. But other reports said Iran was still at least three years away from building a bomb and that its program was buried too deep for conventional Israeli strikes to significantly affect it.

Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reversed her earlier testimony. Months ago, she told Congress that Iran was not building nuclear weapons. But last Saturday, she said Iran could produce them within weeks. She revised her position after Trump publicly dismissed her earlier claims as wrong.

Iran continued to say its program was peaceful. But Israeli officials said Tehran had crossed a red line. One official warned that Iran was nearing a point of no return. Now the world was left to wonder whether the nuclear program had truly been destroyed or simply relocated.