This BBC report, titled “US ‘Iran attack plans’ revealed,” seems important. Based on “diplomatic sources,” the BBC says that our plans for an attack on Iran have already been laid:
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country’s military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack – if ordered – would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
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But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
That list includes Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.
The BBC says that two events may trigger a U.S. attack: first, if there is “any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon;” and second, if “a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq … were traced directly back to Tehran.” From Tehran, the BBC says the disclosure of the second trigger is “a concern to Iranians.” Which suggests that skepticism about Iran’s contribution to the violence in Iraq is not so universal in Iran as it is in the American press.
Possibly the report is bogus, but more likely our government planted the story in order to ratchet up the pressure on Ahmadinejad’s regime.
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