(Sunday Telegraph-UK) Sean Rayment - Senior UK defense chiefs believe that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with UN demands to freeze their uranium enrichment program. The U.S. government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defense chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. British military chiefs believe an attack would be limited to a series of air strikes against nuclear plants - a land assault is not being considered at the moment. A senior Foreign Office source said: "If Iran makes another strategic mistake, such as ignoring demands by the UN or future resolutions, then the thinking among the chiefs is that military action could be taken to bring an end to the crisis. The belief in some areas of Whitehall is that an attack is now all but inevitable." The source said that the Israeli attack against Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 proved that a limited operation was the best military option.
2006-04-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive