Israel Plan to Nuke Iran?

This morning, the hot news is the report that Israel has drawn up "secret" plans to nuke Iran's uranium enrichment facilities.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2535310,00.html

Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran
Uzi Mahnaimi, New York and Sarah Baxter, Washington

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-busters”, 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.

[snip]

Escalating Half-a-Notch

I have to agree with the opinion that this is less news and more posturing--leaked for a purpose. That is not to say there is not a plan, nor that the strategy won't come to fruition. Israel is being backed into a corner and Iran is incessantly poking them with a radioactive stick.

This story brings the issue once again front and center in the public mind. It needs to be there and the international community must come up with an effective strategy to head off a burgeoning disaaster in the Middle East that could quickly engulf the world. We're not there yet, but if you stop and take notice, you'll catch a distinct whiff of smoke in the wind.


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