WASHINGTON, Feb 23: Any US attack against Iran could involve thousands of sorties and missile launches lasting weeks, but it still would not eliminate the country's nuclear program, US military officials and analysts say.

A strike -- something the Pentagon insists has not been planned -- would be hampered by lack of intelligence on the number and location of nuclear facilities dispersed throughout Iran, the analysts said.

And the most sophisticated US `bunker-buster’ bombs might be unable to dig deep enough to reach buried, hardened nuclear sites, according to analysts and defence officials.“It is highly unlikely all the critical sites are known to US and western intelligence services, so parts of the program would doubtless survive, perhaps even the most critical elements,” said Bruce Riedel, a former National Security Council and Defence Department official, and now a Brookings Institution analyst.

An air strike, raised as the most likely option if any military action were ordered, would at best set Iran's nuclear program back a few years.

“The people who are most optimistic favour it because they think it will delay, not derail, the Iranian nuclear program,” said Justin Logan, a Cato Institute analyst in Washington.

Many officials and military analysts say a US attack on Iran is unlikely. —Reuters