Israel's plans to nuke Iran leaked.....oh oh!

[swirlundergrounder]

LONDON, 8 January 2007 Ñ Israel has drawn up plans to destroy Iranian uranium enrichment facilities with a tactical nuclear strike, a British newspaper said yesterday in a report.

The Sunday Times quoted several Israeli military sources as saying that two of the countryÕs air force squadrons are training to use Òbunker-bustingÓ bombs for a single strike.

The story is Òincorrect,Ó Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. ÒIsrael is 100 percent behind the international communityÕs efforts to bring about an end to IranÕs nuclear program. Israel totally supports Resolution 1737 and the international community must be ready to take even tougher measures against Iran,Ó he said.

The Sunday Times, which in 1986 first revealed IsraelÕs undeclared nuclear arsenal, said the plans involved sending conventional, laser-guided missiles to open up ÒtunnelsÓ in the targets before Òmini-nukesÓ with a force the equivalent of one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb are fired in.

ÒAs soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,Ó one of the unnamed sources was quoted as saying.

A senior Israeli official dismissed the report out of hand. ÒThis is absurd information coming from a newspaper that has already in the past distinguished itself with sensationalist headlines that in the end amounted to nothing,Ó the official, who asked not to be named, said.

ÒTo think that we will launch an atomic attack against Iran, and on top of that that we would reveal it in advance to a foreign newspaper is doubly ridiculous,Ó the official added.

ÒThe Israeli policy on this dossier, recommended by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and followed by his successor Ehud Olmert, has not changed and Israel is not planning to attack Iran militarily,Ó he said. ÒThe solution that we recommend, along with the international community, is that of sanctions imposed on Iran.Ó

Iran warned of dire consequences in the event of any such Israeli attack.

ÒAny action against the Islamic republic will not go without a response and the aggressor would regret the action very quickly,Ó Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran. He described the Sunday Times report as Òproof of the weakness of the enemy and will have no effect on the determination of the Islamic republic to continue its (nuclear) activities.Ó

ÒThis comes after the confession of the Israel prime minister who acknowledged that the Israeli regime possesses a nuclear weapon,Ó Hosseini said. ÒIt will convince world public opinion that the main threat for the world and the region is the Zionist regime,Ó he added.

Israel and the United States, the Islamic republicÕs two archenemies, accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon Ñ a charge vehemently denied by Tehran, which refuses to bow to United Nations demands to halt uranium enrichment work.

Even after the UN Security Council agreed to impose its first-ever sanctions on Iran in December, Israel has pushed for tougher international action against the country.

IranÕs President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past sparked consternation by calling for Israel to be wiped off the map and also casting doubt on the scale of the Holocaust.

Israel has refused to rule out pre-emptive military action against Iran. In 1981, it took action against IraqÕs nuclear reactor in Osirak.

Israel is itself considered the sole nuclear weapons power in the Middle East. It does not officially acknowledge that it has an arsenal although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to do so in an apparent lapse last year.

The three prime targets for Israeli action are said to be the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, a uranium conversion facility near Isfahan and a heavy water reactor at Arak, The Sunday Times reported.

The nuclear option is being considered because Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may not be effective enough at destroying the well-defended facilities, it said.

The atomic weapons would explode deep underground to minimize the risk of radioactive fall-out, it added.

US and Israeli officials had met several times to consider military action, it added, saying military analysts assessed that disclosing the plans could put pressure on Iran to halt sensitive uranium enrichment activities.

It could also be designed to persuade the United States to act or Òsoften upÓ world opinion ahead of an Israeli pre-emptive strike. Israeli pilots are said to have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 3,220-km round-trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey, the report said.

The plan is similar to one said in a report in the New Yorker magazine last April to have been considered by the United States. The White House dismissed investigative reporter Seymour HershÕs article as Òill-informed.Ó

Asked whether the Israeli Air Force was training for an attack against Iranian nuclear facility, the Israeli Army declined comment.

ÒI refuse to believe that anyone here would consider using nuclear weapons against Iran,Ó Reuven Pedatzur, a prominent defense analyst and columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, said.

[mr.miami]

Something is gonna happen in Iran and you are crazy not to think it isn't coming. All those extra troops which are planned to be going to Iraq well definitely help in a battle with Iran.