VARIOUS: Britain's Sunday Times newspaper says Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons

Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said on Sunday (January 7). Citing what it said were several Israeli military sources, the paper said two Israeli 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. The U.N. 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. Israel has refused to rule out pre-emptive military action against Iran along the lines of its 1981 air strike against an atomic reactor in Iraq, although many analysts believe Iran's nuclear facilities are too much for Israel to take on alone. In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini reiterated Iran's position that its nuclear plans are in accordance with international framework. "We have announced several times that our (nuclear) plans are within the framework of international regulations and such remarks (Israel prime minister's remarks) indicate the weakness of the other party (Israel) that will not tarnish Iran's will for its peaceful (nuclear) plans," Hosseini said in his weekly news conference. Hosseini added that the newspaper report "will make clear to the world public opinion that the Zionist regime (Israel) is the main menace to global peace and the region". He said "In addition to that, any measure against Iran will not be left without a response and the invader will regret its act immediately." In Jerusalem, an Israeli minister rejected the news report. Israeli Cabinet Minister Ze'ev Boim said Israel should not comment on its intentions in regards to Iran's nuclear programme. "I think it is an issue that Israel should not be in the front and not to talk about. I hear what is written in foreign papers and I don't think that we should that we have to comment on these rumours. It is better that Israel will be in the backline and support the international community in its efforts to stop the Iranian nuclear plan," Boim said ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. The newspaper said the Israeli plan envisaged conventional laser-guided bombs opening "tunnels" into the targets. Nuclear warheads would then be used fired into the plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce radioactive fallout. Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000 mile (3,200 km) round-trip to the Iranian targets, the Sunday Times said, and three possible routes to Iran have been mapped out including one over Turkey. However it also quoted sources as saying a nuclear strike would only be used if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene. Disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, the paper added. Washington has said military force remains an option while insisting that its priority is to reach a diplomatic solution. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map". Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, has said it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

ITN Source | January 7, 2007

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