Israeli IDF Planning to Attack Nuclear Sites in Iran

[Nancy Waterman]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/348730.html

Israel is prepared to launch an attack on Iran's nuclear sites in order to prevent them from being operational, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday.


Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that Israel
has the capability to fire nuclear warheads from submarines.

Basing its disclosure on U.S. government officials and
Israeli sources, the report claimed that Israeli submarines
are armed with U.S.-made Harpoon cruise missiles. Israel has modified nuclear warheads to fit these Harpoon missiles, and the missiles
have been modified so that they can hit land targets, the report added.

The Der Spiegel report said that Israel is prepared to launch an attack in Iran against facilities used in that country's nuclear
weapons development program. According to this report, Israeli officials fear Iran's nuclear program has reached an advanced stage, and a special Mossad unit has been ordered to formulate an attack plan against the nuclear weapons program sites in Iran.

[SharonAnn]

1. I figured they would. They did it to Baghdad, Iraq years ago

when they had a nuclear reactor, supposedly for production of electricity.

They flew bombers in and "took it out" before it was set up with nuclear fuel.

[Terwilliger]

2. uhh...

ugh

shit
what is there to say

here we go again

[Wwagsthedog]

3. Some background from the UK Guardian

Israel deploys nuclear arms in submarines

Peter Beaumont in London and Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem
Sunday October 12, 2003
The Observer

Israeli and American officials have admitted collaborating to deploy US-supplied Harpoon cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads in Israel's fleet of Dolphin-class submarines, giving the Middle East's only nuclear power the ability to strike at any of its Arab neighbours.

More....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1061399,00.html

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[atreides1]

5. Happy , But Not Brave Enough To Do It Themselves

If they're that happy about it, I think they ought to take their sorry butts over there and take part in the blood letting. I'm sure with the Right of Return law, the IDF wouldn't mind having more stormtroopers enlist.

If they're too old they can send their sons and daughters to take their places.

As I have said before, the Israelis learned their lessons well, and the Germans were great teachers.

[burrowowl]

6. Harpoon class

missiles have a range of 120 km (not very far).
The Israelis have developed Harpy which has a range of 500 km, payload unknown.
The Tomahawk, US, has a range of 1,600 km.

Harpoon missiles can be fired from both ships and airplanes.

[bemildred]

7. Thnx.

[wtmusic]

8. Sovereignty is dead

Long live the chimp.

[IranianDemocrat]

9. Is Israel stupid?

As soon as they bomb the reactor, Iran will blow the living shit out of Tel Aviv with their new Shahab 3 missles which also have defensive mechanisms against patriot missles.

[wtmusic]

10. Retaliation would be suicide

Iran will not let it get to that point

[IranianDemocrat]

11. Are you kidding me?

The mullahs are looking for a reason every day to wipe Israel off the map.

[wtmusic]

13. No, I'm not kidding you

Who would be next getting wiped off the map? Do you think they don't realize this?

[IranianDemocrat]

15. You talk as if they are rational people.

LOL

[tlb]

16. You make a good argument for Israel taking out the nuke facilities.

If it is true "The mullahs are looking for a reason every day to wipe Israel off the map." then you make the best argument for Israel carrying this plan out. Pull their teeth before they can bite.

Plans without capabilities are of little value, and some hopped up V2s aren't enough for any regional state to stand up to Israel.

[ReadTomPaine]

17. Saying the Shahab 3 is a hopped up V-2 is like saying a Corvette is ...

... a hopped up Model T. They share a common technological basis but that's all.

The Shahab 3 is a formidable platform that can rival an ICBM in certain ways when properly outfitted. They are a serious threat to Israel. Likud isn’t being any more sensible about this than Iran. They are itching for military confrontation, which is not the way to resolve this. You shouldn't be so cavalier about Israelis or Iranians losing their lives.

[tlb]

19. Sorry but I think I'll remain unimpressed

"Hopped up V2" is about right. The thing has a CEP of three kilometers, making it worthless other then as an area bombardment weapon like the V2s over London As a nuclear delivery system however, three kilometers is close enough.

If you want to dismiss someone as "cavalier" about Iranians and Israelis being killed, save it for the poster I originally replied to. Address him as to why Israel should refrain from eliminating the weapon that makes your rockets an actual danger to the existence of Israel and the millions of jews AND muslems living there.

I'll refresh your memory of what he said:

"The mullahs are looking for a reason every day to wipe Israel off the map."

Taking this statement at face value, Israel has more reason to worry about Iranian nukes then it does a handful of rockets which combined carry a lesser conventional payload then a single B-52. And therefore more reason to act.

Like I said, he was making Israel's case for it.

[ReadTomPaine]

21. The CEP of a Shahab 3 is 190 meters. Your science is outdated.

It was previously thought to be a few thousand.

On edit – Just to add, the full number of these missiles is unknown but most well versed analysts guess *at least* several dozen, which is considerably more than a single B-52’s payload. Any significant hit on an Israeli reactor could cause a catastrophe (see post #14). It’s not worth the risk, even if all they have are conventional warheads, which is also questionable at this time. I don't want to see either side suffer this possible loss of life, esp. when other options exist.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

25. A link FYI (re Shahab 3 details)

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/missile/shahab-3.htm

[IranianDemocrat]

27. Ok then why not bomb every single arab country?

Just because they don't like Israel.

[durutti]

23. Not Likely

They might wish for Israel to be wiped off the map, but they simply couldn't do it. Israel has the world's fourth most powerful military.

[IranianDemocrat]

26. Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan would immediately back Iran.

...If a war broke out. They all have certian strategic and non-strategic interests in Iran. Iran also has the best Military in the Middle East besides Israel. Those Shahab-3's can do some serious damage.

[durutti]

28. Probably, but...

That doesn't necessarily mean they'd be willing to get involved militarily. If they did, they'd be inviting the U.S. to do the same.

[durutti]

22. Yes, but...

Retaliation would be suicide, but Iran (and Lebanon and Syria) may attack regardless. Their leaders risk being perceived as weak.

[The Zanti Regent]

12. YES, Israel IS that Stupid

After all, SIcko Sharon is being pushed on this by his strongest supporters--US TV Preachers. They want him to hurry up and get Armageddon going so Jesus will rapture them,

What will these assholes say when Israel and Iran are nuked to pieces and Jesus pulls a no-show?

[ReadTomPaine]

14. Pics of Chernobyl's glowing exposed reactor core and radiation spread

Here's what the ME can look forward to if this isn't resolved via diplomatic channels. Let’s hope sane minds prevail.

This is the glowing reactor core of Chernobyl exposed to the open air



And this is a map of Europe showing the scope of the contamination

[Voltaire99]

18. Pity that Sharon's got the full support of Chimpy *and* Congress

n/t

[ze_dscherman]

20. Link to thread on original Spiegel article

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=161389

[peterh]

24. Experts Dismiss Israel Nuclear Report

<http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-israel-nuclear-weapons,0,1776798.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines>

JERUSALEM -- Israeli and foreign defense experts Sunday dismissed a report that Israel had modified submarine-based missiles to carry nuclear warheads, saying such an alteration was technically impossible.

The Los Angeles Times reported in Sunday editions that Israel had modified some of its nuclear warheads to fit U.S.-made Harpoon cruise missiles and upgraded the missiles so they could hit targets on land in addition to maritime ones. The article quoted two U.S. officials and one Israeli official, all speaking on condition of anonymity.




My…this appears to be a rather quick denial. While the denial might be valid (the editor of Jane’s tends to carry weight), I still find it interesting on the quickness to put a lid on this.