Home > Report: Israel ready for pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facility

Report: Israel ready for pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facility

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 3 August 2004
11 comments

By Ellis Shuman

The Israeli Air Force has completed military preparations for a pre-emptive strike at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility and will attack if Russia supplies Iran with rods for enriching uranium, Israeli officials said, according to a report in the London Sunday Times. Military sources said the raid would be carried out by long-range F-15I jets, overflying Turkey, with simultaneous operations by commandos on the ground.

Israel may also choose to launch submarine-based cruise missiles from the Persian Gulf at key Iranian targets, NewsMax.com reported.

The rods, currently stored at a Russian port, are expected to be delivered late next year after a dispute over financial terms is resolved, the paper reported.

An Israeli defense source in Tel Aviv, who confirmed that the military rehearsals had taken place, told the paper: "Israel will on no account permit Iranian reactors - especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help - to go critical."

"If the worst comes to the worst and international efforts fail," the source was quoted as saying, "we are very confident we’ll be able to demolish the ayatollahs’ nuclear aspirations in one go."

The Iranian nuclear threat has been on Israel’s agenda for some time, and the issue was raised in talks between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington last year. The Washington Post reported in August 2003 that administration officials were increasingly concerned that Israel would launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran.

In its report, the Sunday Times quoted a senior U.S. official warning of a pre-emptive Israeli strike if Russia continues cooperating with the Iranians. He said Washington was unlikely to block Israeli attacks against Iran.

The paper also quoted from a classified document on the Iranian threat, entitled "The Strategic Future of Israel," which was presented to Sharon earlier this year. The document allegedly advocates military action against "countries which develop nuclear weapons" and describes Iran as a "suicide nation" and recommends "targeted killings" of members of the country’s elite, including its leading nuclear scientists.

Israeli sources acknowledged, according to the Sunday Times, that a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities could provoke "a ferocious response," which could involve Lebanese-based rocket attacks on northern Israel or terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.

Meanwhile, Jane’s Intelligence Digest reported this week that if Israel launches a pre-emptive attack against Iraq, it would have to go it alone. "Any joint U.S.-Israeli precision-guided missile strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities - Bushehr, Natanz or Arak - is unlikely to prove an attractive option for the U.S. administration while it remains mired in Iraq - which shares a 1,458 kilometer-long border with Iran," Jane’s reported.

In 1981, Israeli Air Force jets successfully attacked and destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak. An attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be much more complicated, Israeli media sources reported, because the country’s nuclear program is dispersed at several sites and the distance from Israel is much greater. Iran also has the possibility to retaliate with its Shihab ballistic missiles, the reports said.

Military sources believe the IDF has the capabilities to defend Israel against a possible Iranian missile attack. Officially, due to Israel’s reliance on the newly developed Arrow anti-missile defense system, the country is giving priority to diplomatic pressure to combat the Iranian nuclear threat.

http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enDisplay=view&enDispWho=Article%5El3867&enDispWhat=object&enZone=Security&enPage=ArticlePage

Forum posts

  • If Israel attacks Iran, it will be open season on all Israelis and their supporters. It would be gratifying to see the zionist pigs die.

    • Terrorists are cowards who hide behind Islam, while having no respect for islam or humanity. They are mercenaries who commit merder for ransom. If the Mullahs of Iran are removed, with Saddam gone, the main insentive and source of international terrorism finances would dry up, Yasser Arafat would go and the Palestinians, the Iranians, the Iraqis, the Afgans and the whole world including Israel would embarce peace and democracy.

    • one murderous gratification you will never receive

  • Iran deserves any strike to stop WMD developments not needed by the people of Iran. This will help the people of Iran as well as the Iranian money should be spent on the development of its youth not terrorism and WMDs. Iran has been on the wrong side of international law for a long time, with American embassy hostage taking in Tehran in 1979, the truck bombibg of the American embassy in Beyrout in 1982 and scores of hostage taking and support of terrorims world wide. Each time the Iranian Mullahs have been rewarded for their wrong doings. The Mullahs of Tehran even influenced the down fall of president Carter and are eager to repeat the history and influence president Bush’s down fall.
    It is now time that some body stood up to the Mullahs of Iran and liberated the Iranians and the world from the dangers of international terrorism and WMDs.

    • I just want to tell you that the real terrorists are the U.S and Israel my friend. First off all, the only country ever using WMDs is the U.S, and secondly: how come Israel can have WMDs and not IRAN? Is israel the only country in the middle east who need protection? So far the U.S and its coalition of cockroaches have attacked Afghanistan and Iraq ... both based on false facts ... and you claim that Iran is a terrorist country?
      I would like to invite Israel ... actually I dare the israelis to attack iran .. then we’ll finally see the downfall of the zionist hegemony in the world.
      Iranians hate their mullah government , and so do I, but to actually think that the iranian poppulation would wellcome an attac by israel is just wishfull thinking.
      We Iranians are willing to die for our country and our national pride, (we proved that during the Iran-Iraq war) ... so you tell me .. how many Israelis are willing to die for tehir country? Let me tell you how many ... zero.

    • I just want to tell that I verify this report as a mankind who is free and likes freedom.
      thanks.

  • There is not one thing that the US or Israel can do about Iran’s nuclear program. If Israel could have done something, it would have by now. Threats and sabre rattling in the Middle East are quite common and rarely results in any type of action.

    Iran would literally destroy half of Israel with retaliatory missile attacks. This goes against the Israeli goal of helping its people live a long and fruitful life.

    Iran has been a major regional power for 6000 years. Thanks to British coaching (over the past 50 years), the Mullahs now have political savvy to match the nation’s intrepid and formidable national pride.

    • Iran will be useless once Israel destroys its oil fields. THe Mullahs will be too scted to do anything.

    • You do not know much about the world oil markets, do you? You also seem to lack basic geographical knowledge of the Persian Gulf and the routes that oil supertankers take in order to supply the world with 50% of its oil.

      If you did know the first thing, you would realize that Israel cannot and will not do anyting to Iran’s oil or nuclear facilities.

      But I guess it is wishful thinking for ignorant people.

    • The Iranian Clerical-Fascist regime’s time has come. While I am no great fan of both the US and Israel, it’s time to bring Iran into the 21st century, and out of the clutches of a corrupt theocracy stuck in the Dark Ages. I have no doubt of Iranians’ ability to die for their country; what I doubt, is their ability to live for their country, in a free Iran. If there is to be hope, it lies in your students’ desire for democracy. As for Israel attacking, I think that Iran has far more to worry about from Bush. I think I was misguidedly optimistic when I assumed that the tragi-comedy in Iraq would deter the PNACs from further adventures. Iran is in the sights of America now. America won’t allow Iran to become a nuclear power. It is as simple as that. America will restrain Israel as it did in the 1991 Gulf War, and will do what has to be done. This time, though, there will be some UN acceptance of American actions, because the UN has had enough of Iran’s games. The UN doesn’t want Iran to become a nuclear power, any more than the US or Israel.

      To return to Bush, I’d pay attention to him, if I were you. In some ways, he’s every bit as bad as the zealots in Teheran, insofar that he believes he’s doing the Will of God. That, and his country’s military strength, makes him the most dangerous man on the planet. And Iran is in his sights.

      Have a nice day!

      Peace and Love from Canada. :)

  • It seems that both nations are employing a great deal of bravado. I find it hard to believe that either of their claims of what would happen in the event of a strike are anything more than wishful speculation.

    Unfortunately, the American invasion of Iraq has greatly weakened the position of those (almost everyone) who would not wish to see Iran develop nuclear weapons. Few will believe any claims the US makes about Middle Eastern countries developing such weapons, and many will assume the US is lying. The US will be very fearful of massive and unrestricted Iranian interference in Iraq following such a strike by Israel. Iran has more motivation than ever to develop such weapons following the specious justification the US provided for its illegal invasion. Europe, though perhaps also fearful of a nuclear Iran, does not seem eager to cooperate with the US on any Middle Eastern policy. Russia, which could obviously prevent or at least delay the development of Iranian facilities, is apparently not interested in cooperating with the US in doing so.

    Way to go, you psuedo-patriotic Americans who blindly supported Bush’s illegal invasion like a bunch of clapping seals (and Kerry’s supporters who have decided to support the same policies in the end). We have even more evidence of how you’ve helped make the world a much less safer place.