Former Israeli intelligence chief: Iran could have nuke withing 4-6 months, but Syria civil war good for Israel

A former Israeli army intelligence chief says that Iran could have a nuclear bomb within 4-6 months, which is about what Netanyahu predicted last year at the UN:

TIMES OF ISRAEL – Iran has what it needs to build a nuclear bomb in a matter of four to six months, and the civil war in Syria, contrary to the prevailing military assessment, has improved Israel’s national security standing, Amos Yadlin, the head of the Institute for National Security Studies, said Monday.

“Iran has completed in the last two years two components that… give it all of the necessary means to manufacture a nuclear weapon as soon as it chooses to do so,” Yadlin, a former Israeli army intelligence chief, told journalists at a presentation of the Institute for National Security Studies’ annual report on Israel’s strategic status.

Regarding Syria, he said that the destruction of its “modern, formidable army,” is a “positive strategic development” that dwarfs the dangers of dwindling state control on Israel’s northeastern front.

The assessment, which mirrors the sort of briefing Yadlin once gave annually to Knesset as the head of the IDF’s military intelligence directorate, also touched on the erosion of the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, the diplomatic and public relations battle against delegitimization and the need for either an accord with, or unilateral action against, the Palestinians.

Yadlin said Iran’s race toward the bomb would require a 4-6 month sprint during which Iran would try to enrich its uranium to military grade. That, in the current climate, is a risk the country is not willing to take, he said.

Calling the final sprint for the bomb “the last strategic mile,” Yadlin assessed that Iranian leadership is looking to shorten the break-out period and waiting for a crisis and a subsequent lapse in international attention in order to progress.

MORE…

***

In other news there are reports that Israel has bombed new targets in Lebanon last night:

YWN – Lebanese media sources on Sunday night…the Israel Air Force attacked targets in Lebanon near el-Fuar. Some type of electronic monitoring station appears to have been targeted. On Monday morning…Channel 2 reports that targets in Lebanon were hit by the air force during the night. The IDF is not confirming the reports at this time.

Hizbullah’s al-Manar Television on the other hand reported a blast was heard in the Tyre area, apparently due to the detonation of an explosive device, not mentioning any Israeli air force activity in the area.

Sky News reported that IAF fighter planes were seen overhead at the time of the reported explosion.

The Lebanese al-Mustaqbal newspaper reports that the explosion in Tyre was caused by Hizbullah, which destroyed an Israeli surveillance station discovered in the area.