JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is quietly preparing for the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran despite public pledges to deny its arch-foe the means to pose an "existential threat", Israeli political and defence sources said on Thursday.
They said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed cabinet officials to draft proposals on how Israel, whose security strategy is widely assumed to hinge on having the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, might deal with losing this monopoly.
Israel predicts that Iran's nuclear programme could produce warheads by 2009. Western intelligence services say it may take several more years.
Tehran denies seeking the bomb but its open hostility to the Jewish state and speculation about Israeli or U.S. pre-emptive strikes on its nuclear sites have stirred fears of regional war.
Olmert has endorsed U.S.-led efforts to curb Iran's atomic ambitions through sanctions. He has also hinted that Israel, which bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981 and is believed to have carried out a similar raid against Syria in September, could hit Iran too if it deems diplomatic pressure a dead end.
But two senior Israeli sources with knowledge of the Olmert government's defence planning said a memorandum was being prepared for "the day after", in case Iran attains nuclear weapons.
"There are long-term ramifications to be addressed, like how to maintain our deterrent and military response capabilities, or how to off-set the attrition on Israeli society that would be generated by fear of Iranian nukes," one source said.
An Israeli government spokesman declined comment.
Ami Ayalon, a minister in Olmert's security cabinet, refused to discuss classified policy-making in an interview with Reuters but said Israel should pursue a three-pronged strategy on Iran.
