Israel has drawn up plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, according to a report in the London-based Sunday Times on Sunday morning.
The British newspaper said that two IAF squadrons had been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear "bunker busters."
According to the report, a heavy water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan would also be targeted, using conventional bombs.
Reportedly, the plan envisaged conventional laser-guided bombs opening "tunnels" into the targets. Nuclear warheads would then be fired into the plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce radioactive fallout.
The report goes on to say that IAF pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000 mile round-trip to the Iranian targets, adding that three possible routes to Iran had been mapped out, including one over Turkey.
The report suggested that Israel may be trying to scare Iran or to cajole the US into taking stronger action against Teheran's nuclear program.
However, the report went on to speculate that Israel may strike at Iran's nuclear facilities and pressure the Americans to agree with the move after the event.
In March 2005, The Sunday Times reported that Israel had drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy failed to halt the Iranian nuclear program.
The newspaper then claimed that the inner cabinet of former prime minister Ariel Sharon had given "initial authorization" for an attack at a private meeting on his ranch in the Negev.
No comments:
Post a Comment