‘US weighs cost of strike on Iran’

As defence experts in the US and Israel claim that Iran has been taking advantage of loopholes in the NPT, American intelligence agencies ha...

As defence experts in the US and Israel claim that Iran has been taking advantage of loopholes in the NPT, American intelligence agencies have conducted war games to determine the possible outcome of a pre-emptive strike on Tehran, a media report said today.

The CIA and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) have conducted war-games to determine possible consequences of a pre-emptive strike on Iran but no one liked the outcome, it said.

‘‘The war games were unsuccessful at preventing the conflict from escalating,” Newsweek said quoting an Air Force source. Instead, the administration hawks are now pinning their hopes on regime change in Tehran-by covert means, preferably, but by force of arms if necessary, it said. Papers on the idea, the magazine said, have circulated inside the administration, mostly labeled ‘‘draft’’ or ‘‘working draft’’ to evade Congressional subpoena powers and the Freedom of Information Act.

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It quoted informed sources as saying that the memos echo the administration’s abortive iraq strategy to oust the existing regime, swiftly install a pro-US government in its place (extracting the new regime’s promise to renounce any nuclear ambitions) and get out. The daredevil scheme, the magazine said, horrifies US leaders and there’s no evidence that it has won any backers at the cabinet level.

Meanwhile, the European Union and Russia called on Iran on Monday to comply with the UN nuclear watchdog’s demand that it suspend all activities connected with uranium enrichment.