Should the US and Israel attack Iran, they are likely fire missiles from naval vessels in the north of the Persian Gulf, as with the “shock and awe” attack on Baghdad. Many of these missiles contain uranium components and would form part of an initial attack on the nuclear facilities in Iran. Then we have the “bunker busters” suitable for normal structures built of concrete, part of which may extend partially underground. These weapons also contain uranium components and can be launched from altitude as a standoff weapon and guided to the target by GPS. We then have another standoff weapon, JDAM, which are large bombs which also contain uranium components.

The main thrust is likely to be by missiles as these can be launched outside of Iranian airspace. The US Cruise Missile is perfect for this application but some of Israel’s missiles carry nuclear warheads and one should expect some new dirty weapons to be tested out, as in Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2008/9. So we are basically looking at both depleted uranium (DU) and enriched uranium (EU) contamination.

Finally we have the very large US weapon called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) that has been specifically designed for such an attack which can be launched from the US B-2 Stealth Bomber (2XMOP’s). This massive bomb can penetrate 200 feet into the ground and is vital for the success of the operation. One could also possibly expect the use of the Massive Ordnance Air blast Bomb (MOAB) which has had very little usage since it initial design. This bomb is normally dropped out of the back of a C130 Hercules aircraft. However this would be a sitting duck for the Iranian Air Force and Air Defence Systems and is highly unlikely.

As pointed out previously there are many options for the US and Israel:

-        Israeli Air Force attacks from Israel

-        Israeli and US Naval attacks from the Northern Persian Gulf

-        Israeli and US attacks from Northern and Southern Iraq

-        Possible US air attacks from their Afghanistan base in Bagram or elsewhere.

-        Possible US air attacks from around the Caspian Sea area.  

The best and obvious option would be an attack from the US carrier group already in the Gulf with the assistance of about 4 Israeli Warships and 2 Israeli Submarines armed with missiles with nuclear potential.

We will now take a look at the environmental implications of the fallout from any damaged Iranian nuclear facilities and the contamination from the radioactive aerosols released from the weapons used by Israel and the US.

The Middle East will receive this radioactive contamination in many forms within the first couple of days of such an attack. No country will avoid this fallout, including Israel itself. Israel has already nuked its own population, land, crops and water supply when it attacked Lebanon in 2006 and again Gaza in 2008/9… in actual fact this self-inflicted contamination goes back even further to the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 when the US first introduced the depleted uranium weapons to Israel against the Egyptians. One finds it so hard to understand why Israel would aid the killing of its own troops and people by using such highly toxic weapons in the vicinity of Israel.

One can already see the results from this contamination in the very high levels of Cancer, Diabetes, Infertility etc that exists in Israel to this day.

The deadly DU aerosols drift on the wind at many levels and will continue to do so each time the wind picks up contaminated nano-particles off the ground and whisks them away to some far distant land. They are totally indiscriminate and do not identify international borders. These nano-particles remain suspended until they get rained out and obviously in areas of draught never get rained out. They continue to be blown around in what is called secondary contamination such as strong winds, dust/sand storms, sea breezes and helicopter down wash etc.

But Iran will not be attacked without reprisal; one can therefore expect strategic targets in Israel and elsewhere to also be attacked adding more contamination to the region. It is important to remember that the US in its usual manipulating and arrogant way is installing Missile defence systems in Israel and four other ally countries in the Gulf States which is more than likely to be the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

These air defence naval assets will include advanced radar and eight Patriot anti-ballistic missile batteries (two in each of the above countries). It is important for those countries to fully understand the implications in allowing the US to use their soil – it makes them a prime target also, as any US or Israeli military facility would be considered a valid target. As you can see, this entire US/Israeli game has extreme consequences. If the US or Israel strike the first blow, one must understand that what follows would be self-defence. Islamic countries selling their soul to the US fail to understand that they have lost their dignity and pride in the name of oil and economic greed.

For the first time in the Jewish state’s 60-year history, the US has established a permanent military presence. The US now has an advanced X Band Radar facility in the Negev Desert to form an early warning shield against any Iranian missiles. It takes around 10 minutes for any such missiles to reach Israel. The system will link in with the US Patriot anti-ballistic missile systems in Israel and other Arab States to form a shield.

The area around the Iranian Nuclear Facilities would be highly contaminated with the first couple of days of such an attack and no country would be spared from the fallout. It would be much more devastating than the effects of Chernobyl. The remaining areas of the world would be contaminated within 7-10 days of the attack. Certain weather patterns have tight circulations normally associated with areas of low pressure.

In areas that are dry and arid or those not currently getting rain, the intake [of radiation] would be by inhalation. In areas of rain or snow, the contamination will come to earth and be absorbed via the skin or will enter the food chain by rainout on the land, soil, crops and water, and in that case we get contamination via ingestion.

The world must never allow this insanity by the US and Israel and must fully understand the implications if this attack goes ahead. The spreading of radioactive nano-particles will cause a massive rise in many forms of cancers; a hike in diabetes; the contamination will directly attack the human DNA resulting in a total breakdown in our genetic code. This contamination also has the ability to enter the brain barrier with a multitude of mental health problems as well as tumours. There will be a sharp rise in still-born babies and grossly disfigured babies. In Iraq, women in places as Faluja and Basra are frightened to have babies. Finally, we will have a huge increase in infertility amongst both men and women.

Finally, the conflict will have a devastating economic impact on the US, UK, EU, Israel and further afield. Obviously the same small group of international bankers and the larger multinational oil companies and arms manufacturers will benefit from such a conflict, but the ordinary people in this world will have to pay a very high price… Isn’t that always the case?

Peter Eyre, a former British Naval officer, worked at NATO headquarters, and spent a lot of time in the Middle East and South East Asia as a petroleum consultant; he lives in the UK and writes regularly for the Palestine Telegraph