nuclear-news

Israel might use a tactical nuclear warhead on Iran

Report: Israel Could Launch Low-Radiation Attack On Iran, MyStateLine.com,  VERTEXNews/Newsroom Solutions March 26 2010 (Jerusalem) — A Washington, DC-based think tank says Israel might be able to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions with a nuclear first strike of its own. The Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a new report that a tactical nuclear warhead aimed at Iranian uranium enrichment plants might not release much radioactive fallout to the surrounding area. The CSIS says that nukes, quote, “are the only weapons that can destroy targets deep underground or in tunnels.”

Israel has never confirmed or denied the existence of its nukes. Israeli President Shimon Peres has often insisted that, quote, “Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the region.” That’s always been interpreted in diplomatic and military circles to mean that an Israeli nuclear arsenal would be for deterrent purposes only
A tactical nuclear device is one that narrowly targets its destruction.
The think tank argues it could conceivably be used as a so-called bunker buster for underground targets.
Princeton University physicist Robert Nelson picked apart the CSIS’s assertion that below-ground detonation would limit radioactive fallout, calling it a “dangerous myth.”  And security experts such as former CIA director Stansfield Turner shudder at the idea of breaking what he termed the atomic “taboo.”  Turner added, quote, “Who could predict what might happen next?”

Report: Israel Could Launch Low-Radiation Attack On Iran – MyStateLine.com

March 27, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radioactive