Vows Not To Let Nuke Plant Go Online

Promising to stop Iran from bringing its nuclear power facility at Bushehr, Israel has reportedly completed rehearsals for another deep air strike into the heart of the Islamic Republic.

The Sunday Times of London reports such a strike could happen if Russia decides to send nuclear fuel rods to the facility, which both the US and Israel believe could actually be a cover for nuclear weapons research.

The Times quoted one unnamed Israeli defense source who said several dry runs had already been staged, much like those against a nuclear facility in Iraq, which destroyed Saddam Hussein's weapons development facility in the 1980s.

The source told the Times that the strike would most likely involve F-15I aircraft, which would overfly Turkey on their way to a strike mission in Iran, while commandos work on the ground in the Islamic Republic. "Israel will on no account permit Iranian reactors - especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help - to go critical," the source told the Times.

"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."

Iranian Response

"No country in the world is in a position to militarily attack Iran," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. He was quoted on the web site Iranmania.com. The site also reports Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a stern warning to the US -- any attack on Iranian interests would be met with a "global response."

"If the enemy attacks our scientific, natural, human or technological interests, the Iranian people will cut off its hand without hesitation and place in danger the interests of the aggressor everywhere in the world," he was quoted by AFP as saying during a visit to the western Iranian city of Hamedan.

The Sunday Times' source admitted a pre-emptive Israeli strike against Bushehr would likely provoke a "ferocious response" -- one that might involve attacks against Israeli targets at home and abroad.

FMI: www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/iaf.htm