Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that Iran was about 10 weeks away from obtaining fissile material that would allow it to produce a nuclear bomb.
This is the first time that Gantz has spoken publicly about the time that Israel believes it will take Iran to produce a nuclear weapon, according to the (official) Israeli Kan channel.
Israel is a nuclear state that is not subject to international control, and Israel and Iran consider the other as its number one enemy.
Gantz's speech came during his meeting with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, ambassadors of member states in the UN Security Council (unnamed by the channel), in a briefing session at the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Iran denies the validity of regional and Western accusations of its desire to produce nuclear weapons, and says that its program is designed for peaceful purposes.
The channel stated that the meeting is part of the Israeli political efforts to reinforce international condemnation and respond to terrorist acts committed by the Iranian regime.
During the meeting, Gantz accused Saeed Ara Jani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's drone department, of being behind the attacks in the Gulf.
He said Ara Jani was the man personally responsible for the "terrorist attacks" in the Sea of Oman.
Gantz added that the drone command carried out the attack on the Mercer Street ship, and that Saeed Ara Jani was planning and providing training and equipment to carry out attacks in the region.
Mercer Street is a Liberian-flagged oil products tanker owned by a Japanese company, and operated by the Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime, and the attack on it killed two of their crew, one British and one Romanian.
Israel, the United States, Britain and Romania accused Iran of being behind the attack, which Tehran denied.
Gantz and Lapid told foreign ambassadors that Israel would reserve the right to respond independently in the face of any aggression or threat to its citizens and sovereignty.
"Now is the time for action, words are not enough, it is time for diplomatic, economic and even military actions, otherwise the attacks will continue," Gantz added.
As Lapid said, this is not a conflict between armies in Syria, this is not a covert operation against a military facility, this is an attack on global trade routes, "This is an attack on freedom of movement, this is an international operation."
He addressed the ambassadors, saying, "My question to you is: What will the international community do about it, is there still such a thing as international law, and does the world have the ability and willpower to enforce it? If the answer is: yes, the world must act now."