Bush denied Israeli plea on Iran hit

President Bush rejected a plea from Israel last year to help it raid Iran’s main nuclear complex, opting instead to authorize a new U.S. covert action aimed at sabotaging Tehran’s nuclear program, the New York Times reported.

Israel had requested specialized bunker-busting bombs for an attack that tentatively involved flying over Iraq to reach Iran’s major nuclear complex at Natanz, site of the country’s only known uranium enrichment plant, the Times reported Saturday in its online edition.

The White House deflected requests for the bombs and flyover but said it would improve intelligence-sharing with Israel on covert U.S. efforts to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and the U.S. suspect aims to produce bombs.

The covert efforts, which began in early 2008, involved plans to penetrate Iran’s nuclear supply chain abroad and undermine electrical systems and other networks on which Iran relies, the Times said.

According to the Times, Bush decided against an overt attack based on input from top advisors who believed that doing so would probably prove ineffective and could ignite a broader Middle East war.