Report: Obama Admin Shared U.S. Contingency Plan for Iran Attack With Netanyahu

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday that when President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon was in Israel earlier this month, he shared with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the American contingency plans for a possible attack on Iran.

(Related: Adviser: Romney Would Back Israeli Strike Against Iran)

Quoting a senior U.S. official, Haaretz reports:

Donilon sought to make clear that the United States is seriously preparing for the possibility that negotiations will reach a dead end and military action will become necessary. He said reports of such preparations were not just a way to assuage Israel's concerns.

Donilon's talks in Jerusalem were the most significant so far between American and Israeli officials here in recent weeks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns have been in Israel as well.

According to the American official, Donilon shared information on U.S. weaponry and military capabilities for dealing with Iran's nuclear facilities, including those deep underground.

But another U.S. official involved in the talks with Israel said that "based on the intelligence we have, we think there is still time for diplomacy, and the time for a military operation against Iran has not yet come."

A senior Israeli official is denying the report, telling Reuters: "Nothing in the article is correct. Donilon did not meet the prime minister for dinner, he did not meet him one-on-one, nor did he present operational plans to attack Iran." National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment to Haaretz.

The leak from the senior U.S. official to the liberal newspaper Haaretz comes on the same weekend Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is visiting Israel, and as a top aide told reporters Romney would "respect" a unilateral Israeli strike against Iran.

Romney's visit is highlighting for some the fact that Obama has not visited once as president. After Romney announced his trip, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicized plans for her visit and Obama aides say he too plans a trip, but only during a second presidential term.

The Obama administration would like to give negotiations and economic sanctions more time, but Israeli officials hold little hope that these actions will successfully stop Iranian nuclear weapons efforts. Indeed, sanctions appear to have made little impact so far on the Islamic Republic’s commitment to its clandestine program.

With U.S. officials concerned Israel could carry out a unilateral strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Haaretz explains that the Donilon briefing was the most significant effort thus far by visiting U.S. officials to try to convince Israel to give negotiations more time. The efforts to mollify Israel will apparently continue this week, with the arrival in Israel of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. It will be his ninth meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a year, and his third meeting with Netanyahu in a year, according to Bloomberg.

During her visit earlier this month, Secretary of State Clinton said Israel and the U.S. were “on the same page” regarding Iran, but Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary of State under President George W. Bush, tells Bloomberg that the high volume of visits to Israel by senior U.S. officials are “all part of keeping Israel on our side” and making sure the Israelis don’t “come to a different conclusion about the Iranian nuclear program.”