US shares Iran-attack plan with Israel: Report

, July 29: The US has shared with close ally

contingency plans for a possible military attack on

should diplomacy fail to contain Tehran's nuclear ambitions, a media report here has said. US National Security Adviser Don Donilon shared the details with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent visit to Jerusalem two weeks ago, an American officials told daily

on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu is said to have hosted Donilon at a three-hour dinner when Israel's NSA, Yaakov Amidror, is also said to have been present for part of the time. Renewing the US commitment to Israel's security, Donilon is said to have conveyed to the hawkish Israeli Premier that reports of such preparations by the US is "not just a way to assuage Israel's concerns" but Washington is "seriously preparing for the possibility that negotiations will reach a dead end and military action will become necessary," the daily said.

The US official reportedly said that Donilon shared information on Washington's weaponry and military capabilities for dealing with Iran's nuclear facilities, including those deep underground. The United States NSA's talks in Jerusalem, coming ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Israel, were kept under the wraps for a while. However, another US official involved in the talks told the same Israeli daily that "based on the intelligence we have, we think there is still time for diplomacy, and the time for a military operation against Iran has not yet come." A spokesman for the US National Security Council, Tommy Vietor, declined to comment on the details of a private conversation between Netanyahu and Donilon.

PTI