Israel is looking permission from the United States to fly its jets over Iraq to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph newspaper said Saturday. A senior Israeli defence official told the British daily that negotiations were taking place for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" over Iraq if the Jewish state decided on unilateral action.
"We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucial," the official said.
"If we don't sort these issues out we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other."
An Israeli officer involved in the military planning told The Daily Telegraph: "One of the last issues we have to sort out is how we actually get to the targets in Iran. The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space in Iraq."
A senior Israeli security official who works on the strategic committee established to deal with the Iran threat, chaired by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said: "The amount of effort we are putting into this single issue is unprecedented in the history of the State of Israel," the newspaper reported.
