A special Mossad unit received orders two months ago to prepare plans for attacks on half-a-dozen targets, the magazine said.

Complete destruction of the targets by F-16 fighter bombers was deemed achievable by Mossad, it said.

Israel, which is accused by Arab neighbours of possessing nuclear weapons of its own, has come to regard Iran as its chief military threat since the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has imposed an October 31 deadline on Iran to prove it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons and also urged it to suspend enriching uranium, which the United States claims could be used to make nuclear bombs.

WAR.WIRE