Israel denies it is planning to attack Iran

The Associated Press is reporting that Israel's Foreign Ministry denied the report published in The Sunday Times of London that Israel has drawn up plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities using tactical nuclear weapons. "If diplomacy succeeds, the problem can be solved peaceably," spokesman Mark Regev is quoted as saying. Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, however, declined to comment. "We don't respond to publications in The Sunday Times," spokewoman Miri Eisin was quoted as saying.

Reuven Pedatzur, an Israeli defense analyst and columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, told the AP that "It is possible that this was a leak done on purpose, as deterrence, to say: 'Someone better hold us back, before we do something crazy.'"

As Ephraim Kam, described as a former senior intelligence official now at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies, told the AP, "No reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to the Sunday Times."