According to multiple people familiar with the matter, as the U.S.-Israeli-led military operation against Iran enters a more uncertain stage, the Trump administration is already working on formulating plans and alternative strategies to control or transfer Iran's nuclear materials. As of Friday evening, it was unclear when President Trump would order such an action. A source said he has yet to make a decision.

But planning has centered around the possible use of troops from the highly secretive Joint Special Operations Command, an elite military unit typically responsible for the most sensitive nonproliferation missions, according to two sources.

A White House spokesman said it was the Pentagon's responsibility to develop plans.

A Pentagon spokesman had no immediate comment.

Trump posted on the "Real Social" platform on Friday night: "We are very close to achieving our goals and are considering phasing out major military operations against the terrorist regime of Iran in the Middle East."

The secret consultations on nuclear materials come as the conflict continues to escalate. In the early stages of this round of military operations, the focus is on destroying Iran's conventional military capabilities, including air defense systems, missile facilities, and key infrastructure related to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The first round of strikes launched by the United States and Israel was aimed at weakening Iran's ability to retaliate regionally. However, despite heavy airstrikes, Iran was able to strike back against Israel and U.S. allies in the Gulf, and disrupted most oil shipments by threatening ships.

An Iranian drone attacked a U.S. military base in Kuwait, killing six U.S. military personnel and injuring dozens of others; another U.S. military personnel was killed in an attack in Saudi Arabia. Last week, a US military tanker plane crashed in Iraq, killing six Americans.

Recently, the Trump administration has turned its attention to a more long-term goal that Trump proposed at the beginning of the war: ensuring that Iran no longer has the ability to build nuclear weapons.

According to data from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as of last summer, Iran had stockpiled about 972 pounds of 60% enriched uranium, a level just one step away from weapons-grade nuclear material. Much of that uranium material remains buried beneath nuclear facilities that were bombed by U.S. military operations last summer.

U.S. officials say the Trump administration has not ruled out trying to seize Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium as part of its ongoing military campaign. "It's an option on his desk," White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt told reporters earlier this week.

Any mission to seize uranium raw materials would be extremely difficult and potentially risky.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said this week: "We are talking about a tank containing 60% highly contaminated uranium hexafluoride gas, which is extremely difficult to handle. I am not saying that it is impossible to complete. I know that the United States has superior military capabilities to carry out such a task, but this will undoubtedly be a very challenging operation."

The U.S. intelligence community assessed last spring that Iran was not trying to build nuclear weapons at the time, and Iran insisted that its nuclear program was entirely for peaceful purposes. But in recent years, Iran has enriched uranium to 60% abundance, far exceeding the level required for most non-military uses. The International Atomic Energy Agency notes that Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state to enrich uranium to this level.

Since the outbreak of the war, Trump has listed ensuring that Iran cannot obtain nuclear weapons as one of the goals of this military operation.

Before the conflict broke out, the United States and Iran held multiple rounds of indirect negotiations aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear program. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Busaidi, who is helping mediate the negotiations, said the talks include diluting Iran's highly enriched uranium to a lower abundance and converting it into nuclear fuel.

Trump demanded that Iran completely stop uranium enrichment activities, including low-abundance enrichment, a request that the Iranian government rejected.