The saber rattles a little louder. The UN Security Council's deadline ran out yesterday and Iran hasn't blinked. Iran is clearly not going to back down through diplomatic channels. After watching what Kim Jong Il did, basicly forcing the Clinton administration to bribe North Korea with two light-water reactors paid for by their hated enemies, South Korea, it must be hard for Ahmadinejad to take the West seriously.
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions.
But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.
