stops its weapons program , '' Hersh said . The new article , `` Preparing the Battlefield , '' is the latest in a series of articles accusing the Bush administration of preparing for war with Iran . He based the report on accounts from current and former military , intelligence , and congressional sources . Watch Hersh discuss what he says are the administration 's plans for Iran '' `` As usual with his quarterly pieces , we 'll decline to comment , '' White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN . `` The CIA , as a rule , does not comment on allegations regarding covert operations , '' CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said . Ryan Crocker , the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad , denied U.S. raids were being launched from Iraq , where American commanders believe Iran is stoking sectarian warfare and fomenting attacks on U.S. troops . `` I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran , in the south or anywhere else , '' Crocker said . Hersh said U.S. efforts were staged from Afghanistan , which also shares a border with Iran . He said
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Bush administration has launched a `` significant escalation '' of covert operations in Iran , sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country 's nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic 's government , journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday . An Iranian flag flies outside the building containing the reactor of Bushehr nuclear power plant , south of Tehran . White House , CIA and State Department officials declined comment on Hersh 's report , which appears in this week 's issue of The New Yorker . Hersh told CNN 's `` Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer '' that Congress has authorized up to $ 400 million to fund the secret campaign , which involves U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents . President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have rejected findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has halted a clandestine effort to build a nuclear bomb and `` do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program , '' Hersh said . `` They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of office next year , either Iran is attacked or it