US plans to strike Iran next month: report

MOSCOW: The US is planning a military strike against Iran early next month and the Pentagon has already compiled a list of possible targets and practiced the operation during recent exercises in the Persian Gulf, according to Russian Intelligence sources.

"Russian intelligence has information that the US Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory," government-run RIA Novosti on Friday quoted an unnamed security source.

American commanders will be ready to carry out the attack in early April, but it will be up to the US political leadership to decide if and when to attack, the agency's source said noting that American military presence in the region has reached the level of March 2003 when the US invaded Iraq.

A new US carrier battle group has been dispatched to the Gulf. The USS John C Stennis, with a crew of 3,200 and around 80 fixed-wing aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, eight support ships and four nuclear submarines are heading for the Gulf, where a similar group led by the USS Dwight D Eisenhower has been deployed since December 2006.

The US is also reported to be sending Patriot anti-missile systems to the region.

The 'senior Russian security official' quoted by RIA Novosti, citing military intelligence, claimed that Pentagon could decide to conduct ground operations as well after assessing the damage done to the Iranian forces by its possible missile strikes and analysing the political situation in the country following the attacks.

It said US forces had recently intensified training for air and ground operations against Iran.

"The Pentagon has drafted a highly effective plan that will allow the Americans to bring Iran to its knees at minimal cost," the official was quoted as saying.

Earlier last week in an interview to Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily, former Defence Ministry official, Col-Gen Leonid Ivashov did not rule out an imminent US strike on Iran to cripple its military might.

Gen Ivashov, who is vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said, "I have no doubt there will be an operation, or rather an aggressive action against Iran."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, was rather optimistic about the situation and said he ruled out a military solution of the Iranian nuclear problem.

"We are constantly working on how to resolve the situation around the Iranian nuclear programme and other conflicts peacefully," Lavrov said.

"This policy is unchanged and we will pursue it in the future."