IOL: US planned Iran invasion since 2003 - analyst

IOL: US planned Iran invasion since 2003 - analyst

US planned Iran invasion since 2003 - analyst

Washington - A former US intelligence analyst says the United States began planning a full-scale military campaign against Iran to establish control over the Strait of Hormuz even before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

William Arkin, who served as the US Army's top intelligence mind on West Berlin in the 1970s and accurately predicted US military operations against Iraq, said the plan was known in military circles as TIRANNT, an acronym for Theater Iran Near Term.

The plan includes a scenario for a land invasion of the country led by the US Marine Corps, a detailed analysis of the Iranian missile force and a global strike plan against any Iranian weapons of mass destruction, Arkin wrote. He said the US and British planners had already conducted a Caspian Sea war game as part of these preparations.

"According to military sources close to the planning process, this task was given to army general John Abizaid, now commander of CENTCOM, in 2002," Arkin wrote, referring to the Florida-based US Central Command.

But preparations under TIRANNT began in earnest in May 2003, when modellers and intelligence specialists pulled together the data needed for Theatre-level warfare analysis for Iran, Arkin said.

Meanwhile, Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to hit American and British targets if its nuclear installations are attacked, London's Sunday Times newspaper said.

According to Iranian officials, 40 000 trained suicide bombers were ready to strike.

Iran is in a stand-off with the West over its nuclear programme, which the Islamic republic insists is entirely for peaceful purposes.

* This article was originally published on page 4 of The Star on April 17, 2006