“It [Iran] will no longer require external assistance to acquire an unconventional capability,” said Zeevi

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, September 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israel sought to ratchet up the pressure on Iran Monday, September 13, by claiming its arch enemy could be in a position next year to develop nuclear weapons.

The warning came as the United States is working hard to round up a two-thirds majority in an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting to issue an ultimatum to Iran to alley fears about its nuclear ambitions.

The head of Israeli military intelligence, General Aharon Zeevi, said the next six months would be crucial for Iran to position itself as a would-be nuclear power, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“The next six months will determine if Iran will achieve in the spring of 2005 a non-conventional capability in the sphere of nuclear research and development," he said in remarks broadcast by Israeli public radio.

“In other words, it will no longer require external assistance to acquire an unconventional capability.

“This does not mean that it will have a bomb in 2005. It means that it will have all the means at its disposal to build a bomb.”

In a speech Sunday, September 12, Israeli army chief of staff Moshe Yaalon said Israel would “have to reassess our position” if the international community failed to deal with Iran .

Iran has come to be viewed by Israel as its biggest threat since the downfall of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad .

The two countries have been engaged in a technological battle over the last few months with Israel recording a partial success with its Arrow II anti-missile defense system, destined, among other things, to stop a possible Iranian strike.

Iran , for its part, tested a new version of its medium-range Shahab-3 missile which could technically reach Israel 's territory.

Last November, the Israeli army radio reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was personally supervising efforts to stop Iran from acquiring an alleged nuclear arsenal.

Sanctions

Khatami vowed to press ahead with nuclear technology with Russia

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the government wanted to see sanctions imposed if Iran did not abandon its ambitions to develop a nuclear arsenal.

“We hope that sanctions will be imposed by the United Nations' Security Council if Iran refuses to comply,” the aide told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The most important thing is that pressures be continuously exerted rather than occasionally.

“If pressures fail, Israel will find ways to defend itself,” he said, without further elaborating.

Ironically enough, Israel itself refuses to confirm it has a nuclear arsenal but is estimated to possess some 200 warheads. (Click here to read the history of Israel's nuclear arsenal.)

Unlike Iran , it is not subject to IAEA inspections as it has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Such comments inevitably raise the specter of a pre-emptive strike by Israel against Iran in an echo of its 1981 bombing of Iraq 's Osirak nuclear facility. Iran has promised to retaliate against such a move.

Israel has long claimed that the Islamic republic is using supplies from Russia , which undertook the building of Iran 's first nuclear plant, for military ends.

Tel Aviv failed to convince Russia 's visiting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week to end Moscow 's nuclear cooperation with Iran .

Lavrov deemed the cooperation did not represent any “specific threat”.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Sunday that Tehran was pushing forward with nuclear cooperation with Russia despite protests from the West.

“We are certain that all of the region’s powers must keep to good relations, and this will allow the regional powers to stand up against the ambitions of certain countries,” Iran’s official news agency IRNA quoted him as telling reporters.

Khatami said the Russia-built nuclear reactor in the southern town of Bushehr would go ahead despite resistance from the United States and Israel .

Ultimatum

“It's an open process and we will finish when I believe we are finished,” said El-Baradei

The comments appeared designed to add to the pressure on Iran as the United States and Europe appeared close to agreement at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors meeting over setting a deadline for Tehran to allay suspicions it is secretly making atomic weapons.

Washington is pushing for a two-thirds majority to issue an ultimatum to Iran , a step before the issue of Iran 's nuclear weapons program reaches the UN Security Council, Israel ’s Ha’aretz newspaper reported.

Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who was in Israel Sunday on his way to the IAEA meeting in Vienna , said Russia , Britain , France and Germany play a key role in international pressure applied on Iran , and the “European troika” has indicated supporting the ultimatum.

The three countries are ready to set a November deadline for Iran to respond to concerns about its nuclear program, in a draft resolution that brings the so-called Euro 3 closer to the US hard line.

The measure, however, falls short of reporting Tehran to the UN Security Council, as Washington would have liked.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw confirmed that a deadline was being discussed.

“That's part of the discussions on the draft resolution in Vienna . Since we got together 15 months ago with Iran we've worked extremely hard to resolve this issue in straightforward way.

“It does, however, require the Iranians to meet their commitments for a full suspension of their uranium enrichment activities,” AFP quoted him as saying.

But UN nuclear chief Mohammad El-Baradei said that there was no deadline for ending an investigation into Iran 's nuclear program.

“It's an open process and we will finish when I believe we are finished,” ElBaradei said Monday.