Fighting Iranian fire with fire

HAARETZ

"Prof. Anthony H. Cordesman is considered a leading strategic expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. A few days ago he and another scholar, Abdullah Toukan, published a new study entitled "Options in Dealing with Iran's Nuclear Program." This is a study over 200 pages in length, which discusses Iran's nuclear program, the way the Iranian nuclear threat is perceived by the United States, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, and possible reactions of each of these states. The study concludes that, "if all peaceful options have been exhausted and Iran has left no other means to convince it to stop or change its course in pursuing nuclear weapons, the U.S. is the only country that can launch a successful military strike." But the report also examines the military options of the other players, such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and surveys their military power.

The chapter dealing with Israel discusses two possible scenarios: One is an Israeli attack with conventional weapons by planes, and by the launching of Jericho ground-to-ground missiles, ballistic missiles and missiles launched from Dolphin submarines. Another scenario is using nuclear warheads to attack deeply buried nuclear facilities in Iran. According to the report, "Some believe that nuclear weapons are the only weapons that can destroy targets deep underground or in tunnels," the way some of the Iranian nuclear sites were constructed (for example, the uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Qom)....."