The United States is planning a massive missile attack on Iraq which will see air defences, political and military headquarters and communication facilities struck in the first 48 hours of the expected war, Pentagon officials have revealed.

In the first two days, 3000 missiles and bombs will be fired - 10 times the number launched at the start of the 1991 Gulf War.

The RAF will this week triple the number of planes it has stationed in the Gulf.

Geoff Hoon insisted yesterday that Britain was prepared to launch a nuclear strike on Iraq "in the right conditions".

The defence secretary told BBC's Breakfast with Frost that "we have always made it clear that we would reserve the right to use nuclear weapons".