The crisis surrounding Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme deepened with reports mentioning an American and an Israeli plan to attack its nucaler infrastructure. Seymour Hersh, writing in the New Yorker pointed out that in late 2007, Congress had approved a Bush administration proposal to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran1.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki meanwhile cautioned the US and Israel against getting “entangled in a new Middle East crisis and attack the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.” The comments by the Iranian minister came a few days after
Iranian missile tests heightened regional tension and helped send world oil prices to new record levels. Mottaki told the official IRNA news agency that Iran's response would be “firm and pounding” if its two arch-foes launched strikes against the country2.

• 1. Seymour M. Hersh, “Preparing the Battlefield,” The New Yorker, July 07, 2008, at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh/?curre...
• 2. “Iran expects no U.S. or Israeli attack: minister,” Washington Post, July 12, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/12/AR200807...