US is preparing to strike Iran's nuke facilities: Report

London: Stepping up its preparations for a possible strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, the United States is transporting hundreds of 387 'bunker-buster' bombs to its air base on the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, a media report has claimed.

The US government signed a contract in January with Superior Maritime Services to transport 10 ammunition containers to Diego Garcia from Concord, California, Sunday Herald has reported.

The shipment includes 195 smart, guided Blu-110 bombs and 192 Blu-117 2,000lb bombs.

The key Iranian nuclear facilities are said to be underground and both these type of bombs are effective against reinforced or underground facilities.

Making sure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapon is the top priority of US President
Barack Obama.

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"It is one of our highest priorities to make sure that Iran doesn't possess a nuclear weapon. And that is why I have worked so hard to mobilise the international community successfully to isolate Iran," Obama told the Fox News in an interview.

He said Iran government was "more concerned" about preventing their people from exercising their democratic and human rights than trying to solve this problem diplomatically.

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"That's why we are going to go after aggressive sanctions. We haven't taken any options off the table. We are going to keep on pushing," the US President said.

In response to a question, Obama termed it a hard problem which needed to be solved and said "because if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, then you could potentially see a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East, and that would be tremendously damaging to our national security interests."

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On relations with Israel, Obama conceded that the two countries have differences but asserted that the US and Israel were the closest allies.

"Israel is one of our closest allies. And we and the Israeli people have a special bond that's not going to go away. But friends are going to disagree sometimes and I specifically sent Vice President Biden to Israel to send a message of support and reassurance about my belief that Israel's security is sacrosanct and that was have a host of shared interests. There is a disagreement in terms of how we can move this peace process forward," Obama said

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The United States and Israel have repeatedly asserted that they do not rule out a military action to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions and that they are keeping all the options on the table.

Contract details for the shipment were posted on an international tenders' website by the US Navy.
"They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran," Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London, said.

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"US bombers are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours," Plesch, who is the co-author of a recent study on the US preparations for an attack on Iran, stressed.