Pentagon officials fear attack on Iran by Israel

Pentagon officials fear that Israel may attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of this year which would have enormous security and economic repercussions for the United States and the rest of the world, media reports said today.

"There is an 'increasing likelihood' that Israel will carry out such an attack, a move that likely would prompt Iranian retaliation against, not just Israel, but against the United States as well," a senior Pentagon official was

The widely held view among Pentagon officials, it said, is that an Israeli attack would do only temporary damage to Iran's nuclear programme but it would cause major problems in the region and beyond, prompting a wave of attacks on US interests in Iraq, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.

The official, ABC News said, have identified two "red lines" that could trigger an Israeli offensive.

The first is, when Iran's Natanz nuclear facility produces enough highly enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

According to the latest US and Israeli intelligence assessments, that is likely to happen sometime in 2009, and could happen by the end of this year, it added.

"The red line is not when they get to that point, but before they get to that point," the official was quoted as saying. "We are in the window of vulnerability.