Nuclear War Clouds

Ahmad I Need a Jihad touring centrifuge plant

The detailed report compiled by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington last month concludes that the Jewish state has all the resources necessary for a successful strike. Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff said he agreed with the estimate. This week, president Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu both said that if diplomacy failed to halt Iran's nuclear activities, Israel would be left with no option other than the military one. An Israeli official said that Jerusalem would give the Obama administration until late 2009 to stop Iran's uranium enrichment projects; after that, Israel will be forced to act.Tehran responded with a complaint to the UN Security Council demanding that Israel be condemned for "its threats against a sovereign state."

The CSIS paper maintains there is no need to destroy dozens or hundreds of sites; the destruction of seven to nine targets would be enough to cripple the Iranian program, and lists them as follows:

1. Lashkar A'bad, site of secret uranium enrichment plants in the north near the Turkish border


2. Tehranb, the central laboratory for developing atomic armaments as well as more uranium enrichment facilities


3. Arak, in central Iran, where a heavy water plant is under construction to manufacture plutonium for weapons


4. Isfahan, in central Iran, a small research reactor and a cluster of laboratories for uranium enrichment, centrifuges and weapons development, are situated


5. Natanz, the main center for uranium enrichment


6. Ardekan, at the southern tip of Iran, where more uranium enrichment facilities are located


7. Saghand, Iran's main uranium mining region


8. Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf shore, Iran's biggest nuclear reactor being built by Russia


9. Gachin, near the Strait of Hormuz, the site of uranium mines and enrichment facilities.

CSIS concluded that Israel has enough aircraft as well as the necessary intelligence and electronic resources for the mission. These facts are contrary to previous estimates.

The authors propose three attack routes for a potential Israeli operation against Iran:

1. an eastern route over Saudi Arabia
2. a central route over Iraq
3. a northern route over Turkey, Syria and northern Iraqi Kurdistan.

They point to Iraq’s Kurdistan as Israel's best option in view of the superiority of its electronic warfare (EW) capabilities. This is the first time a detailed and accurate description of Israeli capabilities and a description of how they would be used have been published.