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Israel Plans to Nuke Iran: Report
LONDON — Israel is planning to strike Iran's main nuclear facilities with nuclear bunker busters as military commanders are increasingly convinced that conventional attacks may no longer be enough to annihilate the well-defended Iranian enrichment plants, Britain's The Sunday Times revealed on Sunday, January7 .
"As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished," one Israeli military source told the Times.
"As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished," one Israeli military source told the Times.
Two of the Israeli air force squadrons, based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, are training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz, a heavy water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan, using laser-guided bombs, according to several Israeli military sources.
The bombs would open tunnels into the targets to be followed by "mini-nukes," which would explode deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.
Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the2 ,000 mile round-trip to the Iranian targets, the sources said.
Three possible routes to Iran had been mapped out, including one over Turkey.
The "mini-nukes" would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the nuclear bomb dropped by the United States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in1945 .
Israeli officials were quick to dismiss the Times's report as "absurd" and "incorrect."
The military sources, however, told the British newspaper that the preparations have been overseen Commander of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Eliezer Shkedi,
The Times was the first to reporton Israel's nuclear capabilities in1986 , based on leaked information by whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison for blowing the whistle on Israel’s nuclear program.
Israel has been always sensitive to talk directly or even indirectly about its nuclear arsenal.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert came under fire last month when he implicitly indicated that Israel owned nuclear weapons.
Israelis believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, with experts saying it has no less than 200 nuclear warheads.
Recently declassified British documents showed London helped Israel obtain its nuclear bomb 40 years ago.
Hit Back
"The aggressor would regret the action very quickly," Hosseini said.
In response to the report, Iran vowed to hit back strongly if attacked.
"Any action against the Islamic republic will not go without a response," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini in statements carried Sunday by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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The bombs would open tunnels into the targets to be followed by "mini-nukes," which would explode deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.
Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the2 ,000 mile round-trip to the Iranian targets, the sources said.
Three possible routes to Iran had been mapped out, including one over Turkey.
The "mini-nukes" would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the nuclear bomb dropped by the United States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in1945 .
Israeli officials were quick to dismiss the Times's report as "absurd" and "incorrect."
The military sources, however, told the British newspaper that the preparations have been overseen Commander of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Eliezer Shkedi,
The Times was the first to reporton Israel's nuclear capabilities in1986 , based on leaked information by whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison for blowing the whistle on Israel’s nuclear program.
Israel has been always sensitive to talk directly or even indirectly about its nuclear arsenal.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert came under fire last month when he implicitly indicated that Israel owned nuclear weapons.
Israelis believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, with experts saying it has no less than 200 nuclear warheads.
Recently declassified British documents showed London helped Israel obtain its nuclear bomb 40 years ago.
Hit Back
"The aggressor would regret the action very quickly," Hosseini said.
In response to the report, Iran vowed to hit back strongly if attacked.
"Any action against the Islamic republic will not go without a response," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini in statements carried Sunday by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
More
For more information:
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The Sunday Times quoted several Israeli military sources as saying that two Israeli air force squadrons are training to use “bunker-busting” bombs for a single strike.
“This 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,” an Israeli official told AFP. “To 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,” the official added.
The Sunday Times said the plans involved sending conventional, laser-guided missiles to open up “tunnels” in the targets before “mini-nukes” with a force the equivalent of one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb are fired in. “As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” one of the unnamed sources was quoted as saying.
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http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/208156
Published: 07 January 2007
Israel has drawn up secret plans to use low-yield nuclear weapons to knock out Iran's uranium enrichment facilities, it was claimed last night.
According to a report in The Sunday Times, two Israeli air force squadrons are training to use nuclear "bunker busting" bombs to demolish Iran's heavily guarded enrichment programme. Israeli military commanders are said to believe that conventional strikes may not be sufficient to wipe out Iran's enrichment facilities, some of which are built beneath 70ft of concrete and rock.
Under the plans conventional laser-guided bombs would open tunnels into the targets and then mini nuclear weapons would be fired, exploding deep underground. The nuclear-tipped, bunker-busting bombs would only be used if a conventional attack was ineffective, or if the US, which also wants to halt Iran's nuclear programme, fails to act. The leaking of the "plans" may well be designed to apply pressure on the US.
Israel has already made it clear that it does not want to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. It fears for its own safety after the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said: "Israel must be wiped off the map."
Israel is said to have identified three prime targets south of Tehran, including Nantanz, where facilities are being installed for uranium enrichment underground. Israeli pilots are believed to have flown to Gibraltar recently to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to Iran.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London said last night that Israel preferred to use diplomatic means to end Iran's nuclear enrichment programme. "We have an unchanged policy position on the Iranian nuclear issue. Israel prefers this issue to be resolved through diplomatic channels," he said. "We cannot comment on any other scenario."
More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132596.ece
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem denied Sunday a report in the British media that Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with conventional and tactical nuclear weapons.
Citing what it said were several Israel Defense Forces sources, the British newspaper The Sunday Times said two Israel Air Force squadrons had been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear "bunker busters."
Two other sites, a heavy water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan, would be targeted with conventional bombs, the Sunday Times said.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Israel wanted the issue of Iran's nuclear program resolved through diplomacy.
"The focus of the Israeli activity today is to give full support to diplomatic actions and the expeditious and full implementation of Security Council resolution 1737. If diplomacy succeeds, the problem can be solved peaceably."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office declined earlier to respond to the report.
"We don't comment on stories like this in the Sunday Times," said Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin.
Minister of Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman also declined to comment.
In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference that the newspaper report "will make clear to the world public opinion that the Zionist regime is the main menace to global peace and the region."
He said "any measure against Iran will not be left without a response and the invader will regret its act immediately."
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously last month to slap sanctions on Iran to try to stop uranium enrichment that Western powers fear could lead to making bombs. Tehran insists its plans are peaceful and says it will continue enrichment.
More
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/810130.html
Twice a day, the clock strikes 11, right? As a friend notes, "In tomorrow's Sunday Times (London): 'Report: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran.'
"...Of course," he adds, "it's not the first time the Times has run with this story.
"See for example:
September 3, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2340486,00.html
April 09, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2125207_1,00.html
January 27, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,19269-2011570,00.html
December 11, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html
and as long ago as March 14, 2005
Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Middle-East-Conflict/Israel-plans-to-hit-Iran-nuke-plant-report/2005/03/13/1110649061319.html"
Seems like a pattern. David Kurtz notes the Sunday Times is a Murdoch property. And one day, they may just get it right.