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LONDON (Reuters) - Israel has drawn up plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iranian nuclear installations if diplomacy fails to halt Tehran's atomic program, London's Sunday Times said.
The newspaper said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and his inner cabinet had given "initial authorization" for a unilateral attack on Iran (news - web sites) at a private meeting last month.
U.S. officials have indicated they would not stand in Israel's way if international diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear projects fail, the paper said.
"If all efforts to persuade Iran to drop its plans to produce nuclear weapons should fail, the U.S. administration will authorize Israel to attack," the paper quoted an Israeli security source as saying.
Tehran, which has a stated goal of destroying the Jewish state, says its nuclear activities are aimed only at electricity generation but Washington and the European Union (news - web sites) suspect Iran could use its program to make atomic bombs.
Iran has frozen nuclear enrichment while it tries to reach a negotiated settlement on its nuclear program with Britain, France and Germany.
Washington on Friday joined the drive to put pressure on Iran by offering it a start to World Trade Organization (news - web sites) membership talks and access to civil aircraft and spare parts if it abandons its most sensitive nuclear activities.
The Sunday Times said Israeli tactics included raids by elite commando units and air strikes by F-15 jets using bunker busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities.
It said Israeli forces had been simulating attacks on a mock-up of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the last few months.
Israel, which says Iran is very close to being able to make a nuclear bomb, played down the report.
Asked if there was a possibility that Israel could attack Iranian nuclear installations, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said: "I don't think so."
Israel is believed to be the only country in the region with nuclear weapons, though it has not confirmed or denied their existence.
Israeli warplanes bombed Iraq (news - web sites)'s Osirak nuclear reactor in a daring raid in 1981 to prevent it from making atomic bombs.
Tehran says it is prepared to confront any threats and that it would protect its nuclear sites.
"We will defend our nuclear sites with all our strength and we are ready to ward off any possible aggression," Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told the semi-official INSA students news agency on Saturday.
Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said in January that there was concern Israel might attack Iran if it "became convinced the Iranians had significant nuclear capability."
(Additional reporting by Paul Hughes in Tehran and Elana Ringler in Jerusalem)
