-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: February 20, 2007 11:07:06 AM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: BBC News "Leak": What Will Trigger US Attack on Iran
US 'Iran attack plans' revealed
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 inside 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.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6376639.stm
Published: 2007/02/20 10:28:34 GMT
© BBC MMVII
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