[Dialogue] US 'Iran Attack Plans' Revealed

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 by the BBC <http://www.bbc.co.uk>  

US 'Iran Attack Plans' Revealed 

by Jeremy Lovell

 

US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and
include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned. 

It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian
air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres. 

The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade
Tehran to stop uranium enrichment. 

The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions. 

But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior
officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target
sets inside Iran. 

That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at
Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say. 

Two triggers 

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack
reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear
weapon - which it denies. 

Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces
in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced
directly back to Tehran. 

Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in
an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards)
underground. 

The BBC's Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the news that there are
now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians. 

Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now
becoming a little worried, she says. 

Deadline 

Earlier this month US officers in Iraq said they had evidence Iran was
providing weapons to Iraqi Shia militias. However the most senior US
military officer later cast doubt on this, saying that they only had proof
that weapons "made in Iran" were being used in Iraq. 

Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he did not know
that the Iranian government "clearly knows or is complicit" in this. 

At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the accusations were
"excuses to prolong the stay" of US forces in Iraq. 

Middle East analysts have recently voiced their fears of catastrophic
consequences for any such US attack on Iran. 

Britain's previous ambassador to Tehran, Sir Richard Dalton, told the BBC it
would backfire badly by probably encouraging the Iranian government to
develop a nuclear weapon in the long term. 

Last year Iran resumed uranium enrichment - a process that can make fuel for
power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for a nuclear bomb. 

Tehran insists its programme is for civil use only, but Western countries
suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. 

The UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend its enrichment of
uranium by 21 February. 

If it does not, and if the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms this,
the resolution says that further economic sanctions will be considered. 

C BBC MMVII

 

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