Israel: Iran is able to build a nuclear bomb by the end of the year

Israeli officials have warned in statements reported by local media that Iran will possess enough enriched uranium at the end of this year to build an atomic bomb, but that this does not mean that Tehran intends to make one immediately.

These officials quoted the Israeli authorities as saying that Iran enriches between 100 and 180 kilograms of uranium per month at 4%, a rate that will allow Tehran to obtain by the end of the current year, approximately 25 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, the amount needed to make a nuclear bomb.

And the Israeli media reported Tuesday evening, quoting the annual report of the Israeli Military Intelligence Department for 2020 that the Iranians need a little more than six months to reach this level, and about two more years to develop missiles capable of carrying a nuclear bomb.

According to this report, Iran is in no hurry to build a nuclear bomb, because it does not want war, although a military escalation is still possible.

"We know exactly what is going on in the Iranian nuclear program. Iran believes it can possess nuclear weapons. I say it again: Israel will not allow Iran to possess the atomic bomb," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday evening.

In turn, former army chief Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's main rival in the March 2 legislative elections, said that "Iran has two or three years to possess nuclear capabilities."

Accusations and denial
For many years, Israel has accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, which Tehran has always denied.

Like the current US administration, Israel opposes the agreement concluded by major powers with Iran in Vienna in 2015 to ease sanctions imposed on Tehran in exchange for restricting its nuclear activities.

Israel continues to call on European countries to follow the example of the United States, which withdrew in 2018 from the Vienna Agreement and imposed a series of severe economic sanctions on Tehran.

On Tuesday, the three European countries party to the Iranian nuclear agreement took an additional step to compel Tehran to return to adherence to the Vienna Agreement by declaring the European Troika and activating the dispute settlement mechanism stipulated in the agreement.

Commenting on the European move, Netanyahu said, "I call on all Western countries to re-impose UN sanctions" on Iran.