The Pentagon has been conducting secret reconnaissance of potential target sites inside Iran, reigniting the debate here over whether the US should take military action to destroy Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons programme. Donald Rumsfeld, is steadily gaining complete control of covert operations. President George Bush has authorised commando and special forces units to take action against terrorist targets in "as many as 10" countries in the Middle East and south Asia. But the top strategic target is Iran, say unidentified officials interviewed for the article. Both US and European experts believe that the regime in Tehran is only a few years from acquiring a nuclear weapon and a delivery system, under development at "three dozen or more" sites scattered across the country. The reconnaissance missions are said to have been under way "at least since last summer", to identify targets that could be hit either by air strikes or commando raids on the ground. "It's not 'if' we're going to do anything against Iran," one former high-level intelligence official is quoted as saying. "They're doing it."