By Dan Williams
Reuters
Friday, March 26, 2010; 7:13 AM
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Deeply concerned as it is by the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran, Israel has never even hinted at using atomic weapons to forestall the perceived threat.
But now a respected Washington think tank has said that low-radioactive yield “tactical” nuclear warheads would be one way for the Israelis to destroy Iranian uranium enrichment plants in remote, dug-in fortifications.
Despite the 65-year-old taboo against carrying out — or, for that matter, mooting — nuclear strikes, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says in a new report that “some believe that nuclear weapons are the only weapons that can destroy targets deep underground or in tunnels.”
But other independent experts are on record warning that such a scenario is based on the “myth” of a clean atomic attack and would be too politically hazardous to justify.