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US Spells Out Plan To Bomb Iran
by Ian Bruce, The Herald, May 16, 2006
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Last Updated:
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 04:09:13 AM |
 The
US is updating contingency plans for a non-nuclear strike to cripple
Iran's atomic weapon programme if international diplomacy fails,
Pentagon sources have confirmed.
Strategists are understood to have presented two options for
pinpoint strikes using B2 bombers flying directly from bases in
Missouri, Guam in the Pacific and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
RAF Fairford in Gloucester also has facilities for B2s but this has
been ruled out because of the UK's opposition to military action
against Tehran.
The main plan calls for a rolling, five-day bombing campaign against
400 key targets in Iran, including 24 nuclear-related sites, 14
military airfields and radar installations, and Revolutionary Guard
headquarters.
At least 75 targets in underground complexes would be attacked with
waves of bunker-buster bombs.
Iranian radar networks and air defence bases would be struck by
submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and then kept out of
action by carrier aircraft flying from warships in the Indian Ocean
and Persian Gulf.
The alternative to an
all-out campaign is a demonstration strike against one or two
high-profile targets such as the Natanz uranium enrichment facility
or the hexafluoride gas plant at Isfahan.
UK sources say contingency plans have also
been drawn up to cope with the inevitable backlash against the Basra
garrison in neighbouring Iraq.
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Source:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/62043.html
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