U.S. sabotage in Iran disclosed

[Alan Bolte]

President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.

White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before Mr. Bush left office. But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran’s major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country’s only known uranium enrichment plant is located.

The White House denied that request outright, American officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least temporarily. But the tense exchanges also prompted the White House to step up intelligence-sharing with Israel and brief Israeli officials on new American efforts to subtly sabotage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, a major covert program that Mr. Bush is about to hand off to President-elect Barack Obama.

This account of the expanded American covert program and the Bush administration’s efforts to dissuade Israel from an aerial attack on Iran emerged in interviews over the past 15 months with current and former American officials, outside experts, international nuclear inspectors and European and Israeli officials. None would speak on the record because of the great secrecy surrounding the intelligence developed on Iran.

Several details of the covert effort have been omitted from this account, at the request of senior United States intelligence and administration officials, to avoid harming continuing operations.

The interviews also suggest that while Mr. Bush was extensively briefed on options for an overt American attack on Iran’s facilities, he never instructed the Pentagon to move beyond contingency planning, even during the final year of his presidency, contrary to what some critics have suggested.

The interviews also indicate that Mr. Bush was convinced by top administration officials, led by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, that any overt attack on Iran would probably prove ineffective, lead to the expulsion of international inspectors and drive Iran’s nuclear effort further out of view. Mr. Bush and his aides also discussed the possibility that an airstrike could ignite a broad Middle East war in which America’s 140,000 troops in Iraq would inevitably become involved.

Instead, Mr. Bush embraced more intensive covert operations actions aimed at Iran, the interviews show, having concluded that the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies were failing to slow the uranium enrichment efforts. Those covert operations, and the question of whether Israel will settle for something less than a conventional attack on Iran, pose immediate and wrenching decisions for Mr. Obama.

The covert American program, started in early 2008, includes renewed American efforts to penetrate Iran’s nuclear supply chain abroad, along with new efforts, some of them experimental, to undermine electrical systems, computer systems and other networks on which Iran relies. It is aimed at delaying the day that Iran can produce the weapons-grade fuel and designs it needs to produce a workable nuclear weapon.

Knowledge of the program has been closely held, yet inside the Bush administration some officials are skeptical about its chances of success, arguing that past efforts to undermine Iran’s nuclear program have been detected by the Iranians and have only delayed, not derailed, their drive to unlock the secrets of uranium enrichment.

Late last year, international inspectors estimated that Iran had 3,800 centrifuges spinning, but American intelligence officials now estimate that the figure is 4,000 to 5,000, enough to produce about one weapon’s worth of uranium every eight months or so.

While declining to be specific, one American official dismissed the latest covert operations against Iran as “science experiments.” One senior intelligence official argued that as Mr. Bush prepared to leave office, the Iranians were already so close to achieving a weapons capacity that they were unlikely to be stopped.

Others disagreed, making the point that the Israelis would not have been dissuaded from conducting an attack if they believed that the American effort was unlikely to prove effective.

Since his election on Nov. 4, Mr. Obama has been extensively briefed on the American actions in Iran, though his transition aides have refused to comment on the issue.

Full article
I recall a lot of rumors flying around months ago about a planned Israeli attack on Iran. This is an interesting followup. I'm not sure how I feel about the the "covert operations."

[Zixinus]

I'd like this verified independently.

EDIT: The whole story stinks. Bush, competent and making something resembling a good decision? Oh, please. Sooner shall Cthulhu rise.

[Raw Shark]

Bush, competent and making something resembling a good decision? Oh, please. Sooner shall Cthulhu rise.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day...

[Sea Skimmer]

President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.

Wow, the article really couldn’t do more to shoot its credibility in the foot then opening with such obvious nonsense. Not only did the US in fact OPENLY approve the sale of over 1,000 small diameter bombs last year, the US already sold Israel the heaviest bunker busting bombs its aircraft are physically capable of carrying, the 4,700lb GBU-28, several years ago! However not one bit of this matters because any honest assessment of the situation will quickly show that Israel has nothing like the long range bombing capability it would need to destroy even the known Iranian nuclear facilities. Anything said down that line of thought is just bluffing, and a really fucking poor one Iran hasn’t feared for even an instant.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of covert action is trying to slow down Iran, but it would be obvious to everyone involved that that’s just for buying time, mainly buying time for Israel to field a full scale ABM system and for the US to get ABM into Europe since Irans work on ICBMs is already running ahead of the nuclear program.

[Xon]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day...

Except when it is a blinking digital clocks with all '8' as the digits.

[Ender]

The fact that the US has been engaged in covert actions in and against Iran was exposed some time ago with further confirmation coming out in early '08.

[Pelranius]

Couldn't the Iranians just build all the equipment they need for a bomb by themselves? We managed to pull it off over sixty years ago, and Tehran has a competent enough metallurgical industry at their disposal.

[Serafina]

Couldn't the Iranians just build all the equipment they need for a bomb by themselves? We managed to pull it off over sixty years ago, and Tehran has a competent enough metallurgical industry at their disposal.

Perhaps they could - but then again, what do you prefer?
Building the equipment to build something (which not only includes research, but also building tools, refitting factories AND the build costs) or buying parts that are already proven to work?
Unless you need lots of equipment, the secod option seems quite cheaper.

And if you build your own facilities, they can be destroyed. If you buy stuff, thats not possible.