Israel has made plans to bomb an Iranian nuclear power plant if it begins producing weapons grade material, it was reported today.
Military commanders have mapped out a route Israeli fighter jets would take to destroy the Bushehr reactor on the Persian Gulf, officials told the Washington Times.
Russia has been helping Iran to build its first nuclear plant for eight years in a deal worth about £500 million sterling to Moscow.
Both countries say it is purely for civilian purposes.
But the US claims Iran could use the technology to build a nuclear bomb, and President George Bush is expected raise the issue with Russian leader Mr Vladimir Putin at next month's Camp David summit.
Russia said this week it would stop building the plant if the UN nuclear watchdog presents "concrete evidence" that Tehran is secretly developing banned weapons.
Iran has tested 600-mile-range ballistic missiles that can reach Israel and carry nuclear, biological or chemical warheads.
In 1981, Israel bombed the Iraqi Osiraq nuclear-power plant, near Baghdad, in an operation that drew widespread international criticism.
PA