Senior U.S. intelligence and defence officials believe that President George Bush and his inner circle are preparing America for war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, the British report added. "Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action," the report said.
A prime target would be the Fajr base run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force in southern Iran.
Senior officials believe Bush's inner circle has decided he does not want to leave office without first ensuring that Iran is not capable of developing a nuclear weapon. The intelligence source told the Telegraph: "No one outside that tight circle knows what is going to happen." But he said that within the CIA "many if not most officials believe that diplomacy is failing" and that "top Pentagon brass believes the same".
He said: "A strike will probably follow a gradual escalation. Over the next few weeks and months the US will build tensions and evidence around Iranian activities in Iraq."
