U.S. officials believe that an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities will draw U.S. military action and leave hundreds of American soldiers dead, the New York Times said.

According to the report published Monday, military officials held a classified war simulation exercise early March to assess the implications of a potential strike on Iran. The unnamed officials reportedly stressed that the war game, is not a blueprint for carrying military action and that the exercise generated several other results.

The game, entitled Internal Look, is carried out twice a year and aids military authorities to determine how American bases in the Middle East can cope with real-world situations.

The publication added that the strategy had been previously used during cold war days and its scripted scenario paralleled Iraq's real-world movements in Saudi Arabia during the mid 90s.

In the recent war game, which was held over a two week period, officials simulated a high-action sequence of events involving an Iranian attack on a U.S. warship carrying about 200 Americans. The U.S., it was found then, hit back at Iran and launched attacks on the country's nuclear facilities.

This particular outcome, however, has Pentagon officials worried about the likelihood of U.S. involvement in what could be an unannounced attack.

According to the publication, CENTCOM Commander Gen. James Mattis, who heads the American forces in these regions, found the result particularly troubling.

The General reportedly believes that the attack could bring about serious repercussions not only to Israel and Iran but also to the U.S forces stationed there. The war game also led officials to believe that the attack may lead to retaliation from Iran, who with the help of its allies may launch a fierce counterstrike on Israel and its allies.

According to the report, the U.S. sees the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran in the coming year or so. Though America has expressed solidarity with Israel regarding Iran's progress on its uranium enrichment programs, yet Washington is doing its best to push off any attack on Iran for several known reasons.

Despite being given dire warnings of an all out war with Iran, Israel is keen to commence an attack in order to prevent Iran from launching a nuclear warfare. Israeli officials had earlier revealed that the country might decide to launch pre-emptive action on Iran without even warning its best ally.

According to a BBC report, Israel is eagerly waiting to attack before Iran deeply buries and disperses its nuclear sites in order to wane any unilateral military strike.

Once you face or you think you face a danger of another Holocaust, a threat of annihilation, then you need to do everything that you can in order to prevent this threat, Ronen Bergman, an Israeli journalist, was quoted saying to the news service.

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