Practice run for Iran? US carts off Venezuelan uranium — with British help

The US has shipped Venezuela’s enriched uranium to a holding facility in South Carolina. And the British transported the material. The move comes five months after American special forces kidnapped president Nicolas Maduro.

The US State Department and US Department of Energy confirmed that the secretive mission had been completed in late April and early May 2026.

The State Department said:

The United States, in partnership with Venezuela and the United Kingdom and with technical support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), successfully removed excess highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Venezuela’s shuttered RV-1 research reactor.

Adding:

The RV-1 was the country’s first and only nuclear reactor, originally built for peaceful scientific research and later repurposed for gamma-ray sterilization of medical supplies, food, and other materials.

The Department of Energy said:

In a win for America, Venezuela, and the world, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA), working with partners, completed the removal of all remaining enriched uranium from a legacy research reactor in Venezuela.

The British role is not entirely clear, but the Aviationist website said:

From Puerto Cabello, the cask [of nuclear material] was transferred to a British-flagged vessel operated by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL). PNTL is a subsidiary of Nuclear Transport Solutions, itself a division of the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Adding:

Three specialist nuclear fuel transport ships are operated by PNTL, built to specifications beyond the requirements of the highest regulations for nuclear fuel transportation. MV Pacific Heron, MV Pacific Grebe, and MV Pacific Egret travel throughout the world to transport high-level nuclear waste and fuel.

The kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro on contrived narco-terrorism charges on 3 January signaled an aggressive turn in Trump’s foreign policy. It has since been followed up with a US-Israeli attack on Iran, which also partly hinges on enriched uranium.

As the Canary has reported, Maduro’s US-friendly successor Delcy Rodriguez has ensured Venezuelan oil is flowing to, among others, the settler-colonial state of Israel.

US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated that there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Straits of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked — creating a global energy crisis. Iran has said the war will continue.

The US has also demanded Iran hand over enriched uranium. Indeed, post-Maduro Venezuela is almost a practice run for what awaits a defeated Iran. With one major difference: Iran isn’t rolling over, leaving Trump desperate for an offramp ahead of US mid-terms.

Featured image via IAEA