Pentagon fears attack on Iran by Israel: report

New York, July 2 (PTI) Pentagon officials fear that
Israel may attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of
this year which would have enormous security and economic
repercussions for the United States and the rest of the world,
media reports said Tuesday.

"There is an 'increasing likelihood' that Israel will
carry out such an attack, a move that likely would prompt
Iranian retaliation against, not just Israel, but against the
United States as well," a senior Pentagon official was quoted
as saying by the ABC television network.

The widely held view among Pentagon officials, it
said, is that an Israeli attack would do only temporary damage
to Iran's nuclear programme but it would cause major problems
in the region and beyond, prompting a wave of attacks on US
interests in Iraq, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.

The official, ABC News said, have identified two "red
lines" that could trigger an Israeli offensive.

The first is, when Iran's Natanz nuclear facility
produces enough highly enriched uranium to make a nuclear
weapon.

According to the latest US and Israeli intelligence
assessments, that is likely to happen sometime in 2009, and
could happen by the end of this year, it added.

"The red line is not when they get to that point, but
before they get to that point," the official was quoted as
saying. "We are in the window of vulnerability."

The second red line is connected to when Iran acquires
the SA-20 air defence system it is buying from Russia. The
Israelis may want to strike before that system -- which would
make an attack much more difficult -- is put in place, the
report said.

Some Pentagon officials, the network said, were also
worried that Israel may be determined to attack before a new
US president, who may be less supportive, is sworn in January
next year.

Pentagon officials, ABC News said, believe the massive
Israeli air force exercise in early June, first reported by
the New York Times, was done to prepare for a possible attack.

A senior official called it "not a rehearsal, but
basic, fundamental training" required to launch an operation
against Iran.

"The Israeli air force has already conducted the basic
exercise necessary to tell their senior leadership, 'We have
the fundamentals down.' Might they need some more training and
rehearsals? Yes. But have they done the fundamentals? I think
that is what we saw," the official told ABC News, adding that
if Israel moves closer to military action, he expects to see
more exercises like the one conducted in early June.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral
Mike Mullen, was in Israel over the weekend for a series of
meetings with senior Israeli military officials, including, Lt
Gen Gabi Ashkenazi, the chief of staff of the Israeli Defence
Forces, ABC News said.

According to a military spokesman, Iran's nuclear
program was "a major topic" of discussion. PTI