0:2:
Earlier this year, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected as President of Iran under suspicious circumstances. Ahmadinejad denies the existence of the holocaust and has called for the destruction of Israel. For Israel and the United Nations alike, his election roused fears that there would be no room for compromise over Iran’s worrying nuclear technology ambitions…Today, these fears may have been confirmed.
0:28:30
This morning, Iran test-fired some of the longest-range missiles in its arsenal, capable of reaching Israel and US bases in the Gulf. The tests come just days before crucial talks between Iran and the United Nations about its nuclear programme…and many in the West have taken them as a gesture of defiance. Financed by groups from Hamas to Hezbollah, Iran considers developing its own nuclear technology as a sovereign right.
0:50: Iranian nuclear physicist, Behrooz Bayat, believes that Iran will use the fear generated by such stunts, to gain political control over the UN.
1.04 – 1.32: Interview: Behrooz Bayat
“I don’t think we're talking about Iran building an atom bomb. I rather think that it's about the regime being in a position to force concessions from the West through its potential - not yet but at some point – to build an atom bomb.”
1:35: The worry is that the response to this threat will be less than diplomatic. Since the election in June, Iran has ignored many of the requirements of the UN Security Council regarding their nuclear policies. The Iranian Natanz nuclear plant currently runs 4900 centrifuges of enriched uranium. Although this is low-enriched uranium, produced exclusively for civilian purposes - it is feared that with an initial mastering of technology this could be used for military purposes.
2:12: Now Iran has announced the building of a second Uranium enrichment plant, despite UN demands that it cease its enrichment activities. Just twenty miles away from Isfahan, one of the most beautiful cities in the Middle East, lies this sanctum of nuclear Iran.
2:26: Laboratories at this nuclear plant are constructed deep underground – protected from potential air attacks, particularly from the Israeli military.
2:46: In Israel, the public followed current events in the Islamic theocracy religiously. Iran's controversial nuclear program has met with most resistance from Israel – for Iranians, it is simply a threat to the existence of Israel.
3:02: After five years of detention in Pakistan the controversial nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan admitted that he passed top-secret material to build nuclear weapons for Libya, North Korea and Iran .
3:23: Israel already holds potential plans to launch an air-attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. These secret recordings show how the Israeli Air Force has harboured plans to attack Iranian nuclear facilities for over a year.
3:51: The Israeli’s possess hundreds of bunker-breaking bombs with the aim to strategically disperse these on Iran’s nuclear installations.
4:03 – 4:21: Interview: Hagai Katz, Pilot: “The attack would be on several small targets. It is not ONE single attack, and this makes the political situation very complicated.”
4:25: Interview: Ephraim Kam, Jaffee Institute for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv
“An attack on Iran would be much more complicated than on Iraq in 1981. Admittedly, it would be much easier for America to launch than Israel. The distance is a particular problem. From our Iranian border it’s about 1000km. And hundreds of kilometres further to the nuclear plant. It’s twice as far as the distance to the Iraqi nuclear installations. “
4.55: Yet Israel has experience of a surprise attack on nuclear facilities:
5:02: It’s June 7th, 1981 and this is Operation Babylon. Fourteen Israeli fighter jets fly into a high-risk secret mission. Their goal is to attack the Iraqi nuclear reactor in Osirak - near Baghdad. These are recordings of the attack by Israeli fighter pilots.
Without accurate maps, it takes one hour and 50 minutes of flight over enemy territory to find their goal.
5:36: Behrooz Bayat warns that a military strike against the Islamic Republic would have incalculable consequences.
5:44: Interview: Behrooz Bayat
“I don’t believe such an installation could be destroyed through conventional weapons. If nuclear force was to be used against it – then we’d be talking about 3 million dead from Iran to India.”
6:06: According to the U.S. General of Staff and the Israeli Service, Iran would be capable of producing nuclear weapons within a very short period of time.
6:21: Interview Aharon Zeevi Farkash (Director Israeli military intelligence )
“They already have the knowledge to build their own nuclear bomb – they have this! Now is the time for decisions. Within four to six months they are able to build a bomb. And I’m not sure whether the military experts around the world will have time to respond. That is the crucial point: Will they do it or not?”
6:53: Israel fears a nuclear arms race if Iran’s program continues.
7:06: Interview: David Menashri, Inst.f.Iranistik University of Tel Aviv
“Imagine a situation where Iran has nuclear weapons. Take Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey for example – this region is already tense, even without nuclear resources. Now imagine what might happen if there were nuclear weapons involved.”
7:30: The question is can ‘diplomacy’ continue to be the International policy on Iran’s nuclear technology? The United Nations have announced that if Thursday’s meeting with Iran yields no progress, tougher sanctions rather than military action will be most effective. But Israel’s military remains vigilant – and hostile to negotiation. They will wait no longer than the end of the year for an answer.