Israel has plans to bomb Iran's Bushehr nuclear-power plant should the facility, now under construction, begin producing weapons-grade material, says the Washington Times.

In their Inside the Ring column, Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough quoted 'an insider' as saying, "Israel has mapped out a route its jet fighters would take to destroy what is designed to be a two-reactor plant. A successful strike would ensure that the radical Tehran regime does not develop nuclear weapons. Iran has tested 600-mile-range ballistic missiles that can reach Israel and carry nuclear, biological or chemical warheads."

Israel had bombed the Osiraq nuclear plant near Baghdad in 1981 in an effort to thwart Iraq's nuclear programme.

Under intense American pressure, Iran has recently admitted to a secret nuclear programme, and UN investigators discovered traces of enriched uranium at this plant. Tehran, however, insists that its nuclear programme, which includes a deal with Russia for two more nuclear reactors, is peaceful. Washington is opposed to any nuclear deals with Iran until the International Atomic Agency gives it a clean chit.  

According to the Times,  "US Central Command has contingency plans for war with Iran, but there is no active discussion of invading a country that President Bush has put in the 'axis of evil'. Still, some in the Pentagon talk unofficially of what would be needed to take out the Bushehr plant."