Uzi Mahnaimi, New York and Sarah Baxter, Washington

(que dramatic music)

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.

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:

Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment

A 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

A 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 Holocaust?.

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 map?.

Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military action against Iran as a ?last resort?, 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 event?, 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% 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.?

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

Smells like another sensational article based on some rumor heard in a pub in Teheran.

I don't think it's just sensation. I think the situation there is more dangerous than we like to believe. I'm more wondering when Israel will attack these installations than if they will.

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Create-ivity - a game development blog

The more time passes the more certain I become that Israel is to blame for the WW III.

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

I highly doubt this is sensationalism, Andrei - The Times is a very
high brow newspaper and wouldn't print stuff like this lightly. Also,
the fact they're right wing and usually support Israel on military
action says a lot too.

Even if it weren't to get the all clear, i'd say it's 100% certain
Israel has plans drawn up to neutralise any percieved threat from
Tehran, and these "nuclear" weapons would be the only ones capable.

Have no doubts, Israel has the full support of the white house for this.

Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20% of the world?s oil.

is all that's required for US invoilvement.

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i eat paint

I highly doubt this is sensationalism, Andrei - The Times is a very high brow newspaper and wouldn't print stuff like this lightly.

Very true but on the other hand I would have expected Israel to want to keep such an important military operation as confidential as possible.

IMO it is a new verbal shootout between
Iran and Israel. But religion (incl. fanatics on BOTH sides) and
weapons are a bad couple and someone will push the button down there.
The only question is when.

Nukes... gawd.

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

More like bunker-busters on steroids.

I'm sure things like this are planned out and practised all the time, and never actually executed. I dont expect them to carry this out, it just seems like saber-rattling.

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

The chance of a nuclear weapon being used within this century is inevitable, who will push the button and who will get it are important facts. Its no longer if, but when.

It just depends whose willing to retaliate with their own WMD's.

But i think US and UK involvement is highly possible at this point.

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SupaComix.co.uk

<A HREF="http://www.supacomix.co.uk/ettv" TARGET="_blank">Sods Law? Murphy's Law? Or Inhabitants Law? Have it exp

Israel is now denying the plan to drop tactical nukes on blah blah, etc etc.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/201622,CST-NWS-israel08.article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16509109/

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o

Sounds like the Cold War. Threats to use nuclear bombs.