The Natanz nuclear power plant in Iran. (File picture)

London, Jan. 7 (Reuters): Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper said.

Citing what it said were several Israeli military sources, the paper said two Israeli air force squadrons had been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear “bunker busters”.

Two other sites, a heavy water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan, would be targeted with conventional bombs, the Sunday Times said.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously last month to slap sanctions on Iran to try to stop uranium enrichment that western powers fear could lead to making bombs. Tehran insists its plans are peaceful and says it will continue enrichment.

Israel has refused to rule out pre-emptive military action against Iran along the lines of its 1981 air strike against an atomic reactor in Iraq, although many analysts believe Iran’s nuclear facilities are too much for Israel to take on alone.

An Israeli government spokeswoman declined comment on the report. Israel does not discuss its assumed atomic arsenal, under an “ambiguity strategy” billed as warding off regional foes while avoiding arms races.

“We don’t comment on stories like this in the Sunday Times,” she said.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the report “will make clear to the world public opinion that the Zionist regime (Israel) is the main menace to global peace and the region”.

He said “any measure against Iran will not be left without a response and the invader will regret its act”.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and Israel has said it will not allow Iran to acquire a bomb.

Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 3,200-km round-trip to the Iranian targets, the report said, and three possible routes to Iran have been mapped out, including one over Turkey.