Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

    JERUSALEM, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Israel denied Sunday a British report that it had drawn up secret plans to attack Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin told Xinhua that the report by British newspaper The Sunday Times was "totally fabricated" and it did not single out any specific information sources it mentioned.

    Citing alleged several Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sources, The Sunday Times said two Israel Air Force (IAF) squadrons had been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear "bunker busters."

    Meanwhile, two other sites, a heavy water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan, would be targeted with conventional bombs, it added.

    The IDF had no comments on the report so far.

    In the wake of the report, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said any measure against Iran would not remain unanswered and "the attacker would quickly regret the action", according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.

    During an interview with Xinhua last Friday, Olmert downplayed the possibility of an Israeli military action against Iran.

    "I hope that the day will not come. I hope very much that the diplomatic measures and the economic sanctions will be effective,"said Olmert, adding "if we take necessary diplomatic measures together with the economic sanctions ... the outcome will be positive."

    The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Dec. 23, 2006, demanding Iran suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, while imposing a nuclear-related trade ban on Iran.

    However, Tehran vowed to continue its nuclear program despite the resolution, calling its nuclear program a peaceful effort to develop energy.

Related:

    Iran says attacker "would quickly regret"

     TEHRAN, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Sunday that any measure against Iran would not remain unanswered and the attacker "would quickly regret," the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "The attacker would quickly regret the action," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said in response to a question on the possibility of Israel's military strike on Iran's nuclear sites.

    Israeli think tank: "Israel can attack Iran on its own"

    JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- "An Iranian nuclear bomb is only a matter of time" if no military action is to be taken, Israeli Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University warned in its annual report released to press Tuesday.

    The report, Middle East Strategic Balance, also made the conclusion that "Israel can attack Iran on its own".

    INSS head Zvi Shtauber said Israel was "technically" capable of striking alone and would have to do it alone if it is to take any action, as no other country would agree to work openly with Israel.