Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iran to foil its nuclear ambitions if diplomatic pressure fails to deter the Islamic Republic, a media report said here on Sunday.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's inner cabinet gave the "initial authorisation" for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert, a report in The Sunday Times said.
Israel's defence forces "have used a mock-up of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practice destroying it", it said. Their tactics reportedly include airstrikes by F-15 fighter planes and raids by teams from Israel’s elite Shaldag commando unit.
The plans have been discussed with American officials who, the paper said, have indicated provisionally that they will not stand in Israel's way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed.
The report came out even as both US and Iran signalled a softening in their respective stances on the issue.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that America would support Britain, France and Germany in offering economic incentives to Tehran for abandoning its nuclear programme.
Israel responded cautiously to the American announcement.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he believed diplomacy was the only way to deal with the issue, but warned, "the idea that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear bomb is a nightmare, not only for us but for the whole world."
Meanwhile, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Saturday said, "We are ready to cooperate with the world to give more certainty that Iran is not moving toward the creation of nuclear arms." |
