US steps up plans for possible Iran attack- Report

Washington, Apr 9: The US administration is stepping up plans for a possible air strike on Iran, despite publicly pushing for a diplomatic solution to a dispute over its nuclear ambitions, according to a report by influential investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

Hersh's story in the April 17 issue of the New Yorker magazine quotes former and current intelligence and defence officials as saying the administration increasingly sees ''regime change'' in Tehran as the ultimate goal.

''This White House believes that the only way to solve the problem is to change the power structure in Iran, and that means war,'' Hersh quotes an unidentified senior Pentagon adviser on the war on terror as saying.

The report says the administration has stepped up clandestine activities in Iran and has initiated a series of talks on its plans with ''a few key senators and members of Congress.'' A former senior defence official is cited as saying the military believed a sustained bombing campaign against Iran would humiliate the leadership and lead the Iranian public to overthrow it, adding that he was shocked to hear the strategy.

The report also says the US military is seriously considering the use of a tactical nuclear weapon against Iran to ensure the destruction of Iran's main centrifuge plant at Natanz. The Pentagon advisor is quoted as saying some senior officers and officials were considering quitting over the issue.

The United States says it is focused on forging a diplomatic solution to the Iran impasse but refuses to rule out an attack to deal with what it says is one of the biggest threats to West Asia stability.

Hersh won a Pulitzer prize in 1970 for uncovering the infamous My Lai massacre by US troops in Vietnam and his reporting on abuses by American troops at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison helped expose one of the worst scandals to hit the administration of President George W Bush.

Reuters

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