WASHINGTON (CNN) -- 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.
@highlight
New Yorker article says Congress authorized up to $400 million for covert ops in Iran
@highlight
Journalist Seymour Hersh says program is being staged from Afghanistan
@highlight
U.S. officials decline comment, deny the U.S. is launching raids from Iraq
@highlight
Iranian general says troops are building graves for invaders in the event of war
"The @placeholder, as a rule, does not comment on allegations regarding covert operations," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.