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Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-bustersâ€, according to several Israeli military sources.
The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.
Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels†into the targets. “Mini-nukes†would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.
“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,†said one of the sources.
The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad ’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.
Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock.
However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene, senior sources said.
Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider military action. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.
Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world.
Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed to be involved in Iran’s nuclear programme:
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Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment
ÂA uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels
ÂA heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium for a bomb Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaustâ€.
The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the mapâ€.
Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military action against Iran as a “last resortâ€, leading Israeli officials to conclude that it will be left to them to strike.
Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey.
Air force squadrons based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, have trained to use Israel’s tactical nuclear weapons on the mission. The preparations have been overseen by Major General Eliezer Shkedi, commander of the Israeli air force.
Sources close to the Pentagon said the United States was highly unlikely to give approval for tactical nuclear weapons to be used. One source said Israel would have to seek approval “after the eventâ€, as it did when it crippled Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak with airstrikes in 1981.
Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be released.
The Israelis believe that Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles at Israel.
However, American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread protests that could destabilise parts of the Islamic world friendly to the West.
Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20 percent of the world’s oil.
Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran. However, Dr Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli defence minister, said last month: “The time is approaching when Israel and the international community will have to decide whether to take military action against Iran.â€
This “report” is clearly bogus. How long have we heard little sing-songs about “big bad Iran”, “the scary Ayatollah” and…oh yes….”Iran is next!”? Since 1979.
Then, who does the UN (led by the US, with support from “Eurabia”) destroy in 1991? Iraq!
And no one bothered really asking why. Until relatively recently.
http://emperors-clothes.com/iraq-iran.htm
http://www.hirhome.com/iraniraq/guide-iraniraq.htm
No. This “report” seems designed to feed a number of mindsets, chiefly:
a) To keep those defending Israelis focussed almost exclusively on Iran (rather than on the Nazi-esque Globalist establishment behind the Iranian Islamists), and give them hope that “Something’s being done”.
b) To provide “proof” – to both blatant antisemites as well as misguided Humanitarians – that Israel “really is a threat to world peace”.
Meanwhile, we’ll be treated to the theatrical spectacle of Ahmadinejad taking on the World over Iran’s nuclear program, complete with tongue-pokes and rasberries. The US will continue its covert policy of handing Iraq over to the Iranian Islamist division of the Globalist Syndicate, under the guise of “We made mistakes. Sorry!” and “Dubya’s an idiot”. Olmert – or some other functionary/stooge of The Syndicate – will hand over the Golan Heights to Syria. Then….well I’m sure most people around here can guess the rest. Suffice to say that those who desire Israel’s destruction don’t need nuclear weapons to do it.
Don’t be surprised if some nicely orchestrated crisis is engineered for America – apart from anything else, it will give the US establishment an excuse for sitting by while Israel’s destroyed.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way!
This scenario, or something like it, is imminent but not inevitable.
But a lot of people need to wake up very soon in order to prevent it……
The Sunday Times have always got these latest Israeli “secrets” wrong (as is commonly known by regular readers, and also by Little Green Footballs it seems). One of their Islamist reporters is usually the writer of these fabricated pieces.
In 2005 they said that Israel was going to attack Irans nukes by April of that year… I’m still waiting…
And if this all is true…why are we talking about it in the media?
If you are planning a top secret mission you don’t telegraph your plans and intentions in the public media.
If you do, you get the mess that the USA created for itself in Afghanistan. Shut up already, do what you have to do, but don’t telegraph your intentions so that the Mullah Omars of this world can take a powder.
Pussyfooting around when fighting a war also gets you into trouble. You go to war to win, whatever it takes. Failure of that principle is seen in Vietnam, Iraq 1, (when Saddam could and should have been taken out by Schwartzkopf) and most recently in Lebanon. Lebanon should have been incredibly violent overwhelming, and most of all quick, so that the world could not have had time to react and criticise.Tough luck on the so called civilians. Look at Dresden as a good example of the principle at work.
By the way, what about the soldiers kidnapped by the 6th century primitives both in Lebanon and Gaza? Why are they off everyones radar?
The psychological impact of this type of chutzpah is underrated. “We’re going to get you; try to stop us.” It may be bluster, but I warrant that the enemies of Israel know deep down that if the Israelis REALLY want to they can do virtually whatever they want.
As for problems, problems, problems. Of course there are problems! But the very simple calculus is as follows: either Israel and/or the US waits until a couple of million people are killed or they take out whatever the Iranians have there, and hope that it won’t be too messy. No matter how many “what ifs” there are and how much handwringing there is on everyone’s part – including the writers on this blog – that’s what it essentially boils down to.
The main problem still seems to be that the “low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters— do not exist. In fact the term “low-yield nuclear “bunker-buster— looks like being an oxymoronic weapon.
Does it not strike anyone as odd that such kind of mission would be discussed in absolute secrecy with only the most trusted people, yet already word gets out of an Israeli planned nuclear strike against Iran through the Sunday Times and doubtless other agencies?
If the first assumption about top secrecy is correct, then what is being reported as fact can be no more than surmise offered as fact.
If the first assumption is wrong, then two possibilities emerge.
1. There are no such plans in the works, but that mis-information was leaked to give Iran something to think and worry about.
2. There is such an attack being planned and for whatever reason, the Israelis have lost control over their own security at the highest levels.
In the wake of a strike:
1) What will Russia do? (Russia is Iran’s closest and most important client/partner)
2) What will Pakistan do given their nuclear status (will their government maintain neutrality with continued western monetary bribes as they have done all along in their fake war on terrorism)?
3)What will Syria, Hezbollah, etc, do?
4)Does anyone think that the Gulf States, including Saudi, are secretly behind Israel and perhaps urging Israel to do what is necessary as a first rather than a last resort?..
5)…by the way, what does “last resort†mean… does it mean a “too late policy†with dead bodies in Tel Aviv before anything is done??
“The Israelis believe that Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles at Israel.”
In fact Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by the Iranians having to dust themselves off after having been kicked soundly in the arse.
“American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread protests that could destabilise parts of the Islamic world friendly to the West…”
Which parts are these exactly?
Fools.