Israeli Minister: Iran Building 'Arsenal' of Nukes

Newsmax
 
A high-ranking Israeli official asserts that the world is still underestimating Iran's potential nuclear threat and warns that Tehran goal's is not simply to build a weapon, but to produce dozens of nukes annually.

"We must speak of an Iranian nuclear arsenal, not just a bomb," Israeli International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz said in a speech at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

"If they get the bomb, they will get many nuclear bombs."

Steinitz said Iran poses a much greater threat than North Korea: "North Korea has local ambitions, but Iranian ambitions are global. Iranian leaders are speaking about a changing balance of power between Islam and the Western world, of a new era of global Islamic hegemony."

Steinitz said Iran's nuclear industry is already bigger than that of North Korea and Pakistan, "and if indeed the Iranians reached their objective of spinning some 54,000 centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facility, that alone would allow them to create the fissile material needed for 20-30 bombs per year," the Jerusalem Post reported.

Tehran's ultimate goal, Steinitz added, is to build "hundreds of nuclear bombs in a decade or two," a development that would change the course of "global history."

The minister also expressed concern over Russia's deal to sell S-300 air-defense systems to Syria, warning that they could wind up in the hands of Hezbollah and could be transferred to Iran.