Israel may also choose to launch submarine-based cruise missiles from the Persian Gulf at key Iranian targets, NewsMax.com reported.

The rods, currently stored at a Russian port, are expected to be delivered late next year after a dispute over financial terms is resolved, the paper reported.

An Israeli defense source in Tel Aviv, who confirmed that the military rehearsals had taken place, told the paper: "Israel will on no account permit Iranian reactors - especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help - to go critical."

"If the worst comes to the worst and international efforts fail," the source was quoted as saying, "we are very confident we'll be able to demolish the ayatollahs' nuclear aspirations in one go."

The Iranian nuclear threat has been on Israel's agenda for some time, and the issue was raised in talks between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington last year. The Washington Post reported in August 2003 that administration officials were increasingly concerned that Israel would launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran.

In its report, the Sunday Times quoted a senior U.S. official warning of a pre-emptive Israeli strike if Russia continues cooperating with the Iranians. He said Washington was unlikely to block Israeli attacks against Iran.

The paper also quoted from a classified document on the Iranian threat, entitled "The Strategic Future of Israel," which was presented to Sharon earlier this year. The document allegedly advocates military action against "countries which develop nuclear weapons" and describes Iran as a "suicide nation" and recommends "targeted killings" of members of the country's elite, including its leading nuclear scientists.

Israeli sources acknowledged, according to the Sunday Times, that a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities could provoke "a ferocious response," which could involve Lebanese-based rocket attacks on northern Israel or terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.

Meanwhile, Jane's Intelligence Digest reported this week that if Israel launches a pre-emptive attack against Iraq, it would have to go it alone. "Any joint U.S.-Israeli precision-guided missile strike against Iran's nuclear facilities - Bushehr, Natanz or Arak - is unlikely to prove an attractive option for the U.S. administration while it remains mired in Iraq - which shares a 1,458 kilometer-long border with Iran," Jane's reported.

In 1981, Israeli Air Force jets successfully attacked and destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak. An attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be much more complicated, Israeli media sources reported, because the country's nuclear program is dispersed at several sites and the distance from Israel is much greater. Iran also has the possibility to retaliate with its Shihab ballistic missiles, the reports said.

Military sources believe the IDF has the capabilities to defend Israel against a possible Iranian missile attack. Officially, due to Israel's reliance on the newly developed Arrow anti-missile defense system, the country is giving priority to diplomatic pressure to combat the Iranian nuclear threat.