Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, a report has claimed.

Citing what it said were several Israeli military sources The Sunday Times quoted several Israeli military sources as saying that two of the Jewish state's air force squadrons are training to use "bunker-busting" bombs for a single strike.

But Israel has refuted the report. An Israeli official said:"This is absurd information coming from a newspaper that has already in the past distinguished itself with sensationalist headlines that in the end amounted to nothing," .

"To think that we will launch an atomic attack against Iran, and on top of that that we would reveal it in advance to a foreign newspaper is doubly ridiculous," he said.

The Sunday Times - which in 1986 first revealed Israel's undeclared nuclear ar5enal - said the plans involved sending conventional, laser-guided missiles to open up "tunnels" in the targets before "mini-nukes" with a force the equivalent of one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb are fired in.

"As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished," one of the unnamed sources was quoted as saying.

Iran warned that it would hit back against any attack in a way that would leave its enemy regretting that it had made such a move.

"Any action against the Islamic republic will not go without a response and the aggressor would regret the action very quickly," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, foreign ministry spokesman, said.

He described the report as "proof of the weakness of the enemy and will have no effect on the determination of the Islamic republic to continue its (nuclear) activities."

Israel and the United States, the Islamic republic's two arch-enemies, accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon -- a charge vehemently denied by Tehran, which refuses to bow to UN demands to halt uranium enrichment work.

Even after the UN Security Council agreed to impose its first-ever sanctions on Iran in December, Israel has pushed for tougher international action against the country.

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past sparked consternation by calling for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map and also casting doubt on the scale of the Holocaust.

As escalation towards a war with Iran reaches fever pitch, an online journalist today breaks the astounding news that Israeli fighter jets have already attempted to bomb tactical locations in Iran with nuclear weapons nearly twice as powerful as the one dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, only to be turned back by U.S. warplanes over Iraq.

William Thomas, familiar to many for his work in ascertaining the true nature of chemtrails, cites two sources with U.S. and other military contacts who told him that on two recent occasions Israeli fighter bombers armed with both conventional and nuclear weapons were turned back by U.S. planes under threat of missile interception.

The latest incident occurred on January 7th, claims Thomas, in which jets trespassed beyond the authorized zone over Iraq "Before being recalled by Israeli authorities." Sources told Thomas that the attack squadron "Comprised three IAF F-16s. Each carried conventional munitions—as well as a single 20-kiloton nuclear bomb."

Thomas goes into great depth about the circumstances behind the attempted raid in a near 5,000 word article posted on his website.

According to Thomas' source, Israeli warplanes "Are routinely “topped off” by American aerial refueling tankers, but only on condition that the Israeli jets fly a “racetrack” holding pattern—and do not continue “downtown” toward Iran."

The target of the January 7 raid was purported to be Iran's 3rd Tactical Air Base at Hamadan, where Revolutionary Guard troops and substantial weapons deposits are stationed. The source even suggested that the attack was designed to be a one way kamikaze mission whereby, "Volunteer pilots are prepared to fly their nuclear bombs “into their targets” if necessary."

The news dovetails yesterday's scare, briefly provoked by a rumor that an Iranian missile had struck a U.S. naval vessel in the Gulf. "The bond market briefly pared losses on talk of possible military engagement between the United States and Iran, but turned back down after the Defense Department said the incident did not occur," reported Reuters.

This followed reports on Wednesday that Iran had shot down a U.S. drone near its border.


It also comes after Iranian officials condemned a U.S. raid on a consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, during which five Iranian diplomats were kidnapped. Many saw the raid, which was directly authorized by the White House, as an outright attempt on behalf of the U.S. to provoke a heavy handed Iranian response that would boost the Neo-Con's justification for war.

Republican Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul recently expressed his fear during a speech on the House floor that the Bush administration could contrive a staged Gulf of Tonkin style incident to garner domestic and international support for an air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Over the last two weeks events have accelerated a seemingly inevitable path to conflict. American aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines are multiplying in the Persian Gulf and Bush recently appointed Adm. William Fallon, a Navy veteran, to oversee the ground war in Iraq, a contradiction many fear betrays preparation for an attack on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities which could take place as soon as next month according to several analysts.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress is attempting to rush though legislation that would bar President Bush from authorizing an attack on Iran without House approval but it all seems to be too little too late. Bush's entire Presidency has characterized itself as a unitary dictatorship and his administration has proven itself time and time again perfectly willing to completely ignore the will of Congress and the people in pursuing its preset agenda. In addition, Bush could avoid having to go to Congress by simply providing tacit support for an Israeli strike portrayed as a lone action, as happened this past summer in Lebanon.

The most interesting aspect of such an attack if it does take place will undoubtedly be the response of Russia. Having taken measures to protect their investment in the growth of Iranian nuclear facilities by providing state of the art missile defense systems, the Russians have received severe condemnation from both the U.S. and Israel.

The Turkish Weekly quoted a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem who took a bold swipe at Russia by stating, "We hope they understand that this is a threat that could come back to them as well."