VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) - A military strike on Iranian atomic facilities would delay but not destroy the development of any nuclear weapons program, diplomats and analysts said.
"Military action is not the answer," said a senior international diplomat involved in the investigation of Iran's nuclear plans.
"It would only push them underground, like in Iraq (news - web sites)," said the diplomat, who declined to be named. Israel has hinted it could use air strikes to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, which it and Washington believe are part of an attempt to acquire atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear power program -- a charge Iran denies.
Convinced that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was developing nuclear weapons, Israel bombed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981. But instead of stopping him from pursuing the bomb, Saddam went underground and worked in secret until the program was uncovered by the U.N. nuclear watchdog in 1991.
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