Israeli minister talks about the possibility of attacking Iran "within two or three years"

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's defense minister said on Wednesday that Israel could launch an attack on Iranian nuclear sites within two or three years, in unusually frank comments about a possible timetable.

With international efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal stalled, the Iranians are stepping up efforts to enrich uranium, a process that has civilian uses but can also be used to produce fuel for nuclear bombs, despite Iran's denials of having any intention to do so.

Experts say Iran may be able to raise the level of enrichment to the fissile purity needed for weapons within a short period.

But they point out that it would take years to build a warhead fit for launch, the same estimate echoed by a general in Israeli military intelligence this month.

"Within two or three years, you may be traversing the sky to the east and take part in an attack on nuclear sites in Iran," Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a speech to graduating Air Force students.

For more than a decade, Israel has made veiled threats to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if it deems that world powers' diplomacy with Tehran has reached a dead end.

However, some experts doubt that Israel possesses the military might necessary to inflict lasting damage on Iranian targets that are far, dispersed, and well-defended.

And Israeli military intelligence forecasts for the year 2023 indicated that Iran "will continue to follow the path of slow progress it is currently taking" in the nuclear field, according to the newspaper (Israel Hayom) on Sunday.

"Iran will not change its policies unless severe sanctions are imposed on it, at which point it can decide to accelerate enrichment to the level of military use," said the report, which a military spokesman confirmed was based on real intelligence assessments.

Under a policy of ambiguity designed to deter surrounding enemies while avoiding provocations that could spur arms races, Israel neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons.

Scientists believe it possesses these weapons, and that it obtained its first bomb in late 1966.

Israel, unlike Iran, is not a signatory to the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows countries to obtain nuclear technology for civilian purposes in return for not acquiring nuclear weapons.

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