Iran was so jumpy about a potential Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities that it fired at its own aircraft, according to a New York Times report on Wednesday. Based on U.S. intelligence documents, the New York Times reported that in 2007-2008, the Iranian military fired anti-aircraft missiles and even dispatched fighter aircraft to intercept what they thought was an Israeli plane coming to strike Iran. "Iranian air defense units have taken inappropriate actions dozens of times, including firing anti-aircraft artillery and scrambling aircraft against unidentified or misidentified targets,'' according to a Pentagon source in the report. According to foreign reports, Israel bombed a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, causing Iran to fear it's nuclear program was next to be targeted. The following year, the Israel Air Force conducted a large scale exercise over the Mediterranean sea, reportedly to simulate an attack on the Iranian nuclear site in Natanz. With anticipation of an attack at an all time high, Iranian military forces began displaying an itchy trigger finger. In June 2007, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reportedly fired an anti-aircraft missile at a civilian airliner. In May 2008 an Iranian anti-aircraft battery fired a missile at an Iranian unmanned aircraft and another civilian airliner. According to the report, in one instance, Iran dispatched a fighter jet to inspect an Iraqi Airways flight from Baghdad to Tehran up close. In May 2008, Iran recorded one of its most embarrassing faults, when it opened fire on its own military jet. Less than a month later in June 2008, Iran reportedly began training its fighters to bomb targets, simulating Haifa and the Israeli nuclear reactor in Dimona. Currently, tensions between Israel and Iran have reached an all time high. Israel has warned the world that Iran is on the verge of achieving nuclear capability and it will not rule out a military strike to protect itself.
