Teheran: Israel will regret any attack

Report: Israel plans to use nukes on Iran enrichment sites; army denies.

By JPOST STAFF, AP
iran map nuclear 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
iran map nuclear 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Previous 200 talkbacks Israel on Sunday denied a British newspaper report that it is planning to attack Teheran's nuclear sites using low-yield nuclear "bunker busters." Iran said any such attack would provoke a reaction and that "anyone who attacks will regret their actions very quickly." According to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Ali Husseini, the report, published in The Sunday Times, confirmed the danger posed by Israel's possession of nuclear weapons. "This step even comes after the Israeli prime minister's admission, which revealed the fact that the Israeli regime has nuclear weapons in its possession," Husseini said, referring to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's slip-of-the-tongue last month, when he hinted on German television that Israel was among the world's nuclear-equipped nations.
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  • Editor's Picks: Decision time "Now this will convince the international community that the main threat to the world, and to our region in particular, is the Zionist regime," Husseini added. Olmert's office said it would not comment on The Sunday Times claim. "We don't respond to publications in The Sunday Times," said Miri Eisin, Olmert's spokeswoman. Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman also declined to comment on the report, which claimed that Israel had drawn up plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev denied the report and said: "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 [of Iran's nuclear drive] can be solved peaceably." Earlier, Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On urged Olmert to refute the report. "It is impossible that Israel would plan to get caught up in another adventure after [our] experience in Lebanon, and act as the world's sheriff," Israel Radio quoted Gal-On as saying. She added that diplomacy was the only way to solve the problem. According to the British report, military sources have disclosed details of two IAF squadrons that have been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear bunker busters. A heavy-water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan would also be targeted, using conventional bombs, according to the newspaper. Reportedly, the plan envisages 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. IAF pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000 mile round-trip to the Iranian targets, the newspaper said, adding that three possible routes to Iran had been mapped out, including one over Turkey. It 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. Israeli analysts derided the report. Ephraim Kam, a strategic expert at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies and formerly a senior IDF intelligence officer, said: "No reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to The Sunday Times." In March 2005, the same newspaper 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. The Sunday Times reported that Israeli military officials believe Iran could produce enough enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons within two years.