A strike on Iran would pose tough test for Israelis

US: An Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear sites would amount to a roll of the dice against elusive targets, drawing in the United States if the gamble fell short, analysts and former US military officers say. Iran's air defenses and aging fighters would be no match for Israel's high-tech aircraft and cyber warfare, but the outcome of a raid would largely hinge on intelligence and whether Tehran is able to hide key elements of its uranium enrichment network.

Israel's military has earned a reputation for lightning assaults that blindside their enemies, but the Iranian nuclear program presents a much more complicated task for Israel compared to previous raids that took out reactors in Iraq and Syria.

In 1981, Israeli fighters destroyed an Iraqi atomic reactor in Osirak without losing a plane and in 2007 the Israelis are widely believed to have knocked out a clandestine reactor in Syria.

But flying fighter jets 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) all the way to Iran would stretch Israel's limited supply of aerial refueling aircraft, while Tehran's dispersed, hidden nuclear sites -- including a facility dug into the side of a mountain -- present a daunting challenge.

“This is not a pinpoint, single target, one strike and it's over,” said William Fallon, a retired navy admiral who led US Central Command in 2007-8.

An assault designed to delay Iran's nuclear work would be “very difficult” partly because the Iranians have “been pretty clever about distributing stuff,” Fallon told an audience Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

AFP