Iran could have nuke bombs in three years - Israeli army

Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz gave the assessment to parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee in a closed-door briefing days after anti-Israeli comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"If the Iranians continue now then they will be able to begin enriching uranium at the start of March," Halutz told the parliamentary forum, according to its chairman, Yuval Steinitz.

Asked how long it would take for Iran to produce a nuclear weapon, Steinitz, speaking to reporters, quoted Halutz as saying: "It would take two to three years."

In a standoff with the West, Iran has insisted on enriching uranium on its own soil, conducting a full nuclear-fuel production cycle that the West fears could yield an atomic bomb.

Iran denies seeking to develop nuclear weapons and says it wants to generate power for an energy-hungry economy that exports most of its oil to earn hard currency.

Halutz's remarks also followed the apparent faltering of European Union-sponsored talks on Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran has dismissed an EU proposal for its uranium to be purified in Russia.

TENSIONS GROW

Tension between Israel and Iran escalated after Ahmadinejad called in October for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".

Earlier this week he made comments widely seen as denying the annihilation of six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust took place.

Israeli officials have become more outspoken about Iran's nuclear programme in the run-up to Israel's March 28 general election, prompting some political analysts to suggest their tough comments were partly an attempt to win points with voters.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in recent remarks to journalists, called a nuclear-armed Iran something Israel and the Western world could not accept.

However, he steered clear of any military threat, reiterating that Israel preferred to see diplomacy take its course and wanted the United States and the EU to continue to spearhead efforts to persuade Iran to curb uranium enrichment.

Israeli officials denied a report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that said Israel's armed forces were preparing for a March strike on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities.

Israeli warplanes bombed the main Iraqi atomic reactor in Osiraq in 1981, in a blow to Saddam Hussein's quest for the bomb.

According to foreign analysts, Israel has more than 100 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. Israel has refused to confirm or deny whether it is a nuclear power.

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