JPost, The German newspaper Der Spiegel reported Saturday that Israel has prepared plans for a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities in order to halt Iran's progress towards attaining nuclear weapons.
Der Spiegel reported that a special unit of the Mossad received an order two months ago to prepare a detailed plan to destroy Iran's nuclear sites. According to the paper, the Mossad's plan is ready and has been delivered to the Israeli Air Force, which will carry out the strike.
The newspaper said its source is an IAF fighter-bomber pilot, who said the plan to take out Iran's nuclear sites was “complex, yet manageable.”
The paper added that Israel knows Iran has six nuclear sites, all of which would be attacked simultaneously by Israeli jets.
The paper added that the Mossad believes Iran has reached an advanced stage in its nuclear program and is capable of producing enriched uranium, a vital ingredient of nuclear bombs. The report went on to say that three of Iran's nuclear sites were totally unknown to the outside world.
The paper said Israeli defense officials told Der Spiegel that if the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors visited those three sites, the Iranians would have “something to worry about because they have something to hide.”
Israel has long sounded the alarm regarding Iran's nuclear intentions and has hinted over recent years that it might strike Iran's nuclear facilities at Bushehr and elsewhere, just as it hit Iraq's reactor at Osirak in June 1981.
'We think that next summer, if Iran is not stopped, it will reach self-sufficiency and this is the point of no return. After this self-capability, it will take them some two years to make a nuclear bomb,' OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze'evi (Farkash) announced on TV Channel 1 two in August.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the IAF has devoted the bulk of its procurement funds in the past decade to strike at Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile facilities. Generals and Israeli leaders have openly declared that the tens of billions of shekels spent are to extend its reach for just this possibility.
An extremist Islamic regime which has publicly vowed to destroy the Jewish state, Iran is intent on developing the bomb. Stopping this is a daunting challenge for Israel's miltary establishment.
Iran has warned Israel against any military attack on its nuclear sites, saying Israel would pay a very heavy price if it did.
Arieh O'Sullivan contributed to this report.
