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Israeli Minister: Iran Could Go
Nuclear This Year
Newsmax.com
Iran will likely have the means to
produce nuclear weapons before the end of this year, warns Israeli
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz.
A recent Israeli Military Intelligence
assessment estimated that Iran would not be able to go nuclear until
2010. But Mofaz, a former defense minister and Israeli Defense Force
chief of General Staff, said Iran could have the know-how to build
nuclear arms within months.
In a speech at Yale University on the eve
of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Mofaz said the diplomatic channel was the
preferred way to stop Iran’s nuclear program, but added that any means
of ensuring that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons are valid,
according to the Jerusalem Post.
“Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Iran,
and I'd like to believe that the rest of the world will not allow it to
happen,” Mofaz said. “All is fair in the efforts to make sure it doesn't
happen."
He also declared that the "Iranian regime
is the number one threat to mankind in the 21st century. It is a
multi-dimensional, multi-armed threat, which increases every day, every
hour."
Photos taken during a recent visit by
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Natanz, where Iran is building
centrifuges to enrich uranium, were released to the world press by Iran.
They clearly show the progress Iran has made on installing the newer
IR-2 model centrifuge, which appears ready for testing, according to
HSToday, a Web site focusing on homeland security.
Mofaz was in the U.S. with an Israeli
delegation holding meetings with American officials, including Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice.
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