(Guardian-UK) Nick Hopkins - Britain's armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran's nuclear enrichment program. The Ministry of Defence believes the U.S. may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission. One senior Whitehall official said Iran had proved "surprisingly resilient" in the face of sanctions, and Western attempts to cripple its nuclear enrichment program had been less successful than first thought. In addition, officials now believe Iran has restored all the capability it lost in a sophisticated cyber-attack last year due to the Stuxnet computer worm. Another Whitehall official said that within the next 12 months Iran may have hidden all the material it needs to continue a covert weapons program inside fortified bunkers. "Beyond [12 months], we couldn't be sure our missiles could reach them," the source said. "So the window is closing."
2011-11-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive