Report: Iran preparing to fire missiles at Dimona

Ynetnews - Israel

British Times quotes defense sources as saying Tehran has moved ballistic missiles into launch positions following reported large-scale IAF exercise. Former Mossad chief says Israel has only one year to stop Iran from developing nuclear bomb

Iran has moved ballistic missiles into launch positions, with Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant among the possible targets, the London-based Times newspaper reported Sunday, quoting defense sources.

According to the report, the movement of Shahab-3B missiles, which have an estimated range of more than 1,250 miles, followed a reported large-scale exercise earlier this month in which the Israel Air Force flew en masse over the Mediterranean in an apparent rehearsal for a threatened attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.

The sources said Iran was preparing to retaliate for any onslaught by firing missiles at Dimona, where Israel's nuclear reactor is located.

General Mohammad Ali Jafari, chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, has issued a new warning against Israel not to attack it, saying the country is well within range of its missiles, the Iranian Jam-e Jam newspaper reported on Saturday.

"This country (Israel) is completely within the range of the Islamic republic's missiles. Our missile power and capability are such that the Zionist regime, despite all its abilities, cannot confront it," he said.

"There is the possibility that by attacking Iranian nuclear sites the enemy wants to delay our nuclear activities, but any interruption would be very short since Iranian scientific ability is different from that of Syria and Iraq."

Shavit: Israel won't be afraid to attack alone

Meanwhile, former Mossad Director Shabtai Shavit has warned that Israel has only one year to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

In an interview with the British Telegraph newspaper published Sunday, Shavit said that the "worst-case scenario" is that Iran may have a nuclear weapon within "somewhere around a year".

"As an intelligence officer working with the worst-case scenario, I can tell you we should be prepared," he added. "We should do whatever necessary on the defensive side, on the offensive side, on the public opinion side for the West, in case sanctions don't work. What's left is a military action.

Shavit went on to say that "the time that is left to be ready is getting shorter all the time."

The former Mossad chief also addressed the possibility that an attack on Iran would be thwarted if Democratic candidate Barack Obama is elected US president.

"If (Republican candidate John) McCain gets elected, he could really easily make a decision to go for it. If it's Obama: no. My prediction is that he won't go for it, at least not in his first term in the White House," Shavit said.

He added that while it would be preferable to have American support and participation in a strike on the Islamic republic, Israel would not be afraid to do it alone.

"When it comes to decisions that have to do with our national security and our own survival, at best we may update the Americans that we are intending or planning or going to do something. It's not a precondition, (getting) an American agreement," he said.

AFP contributed to this report