Iran will have a nuke bomb by 2014: Israeli intel chief

Jerusalem, June 17 (ANI): The chief of Israel's intelligence agency has expressed fear over Iran's capability to make a nuclear bomb by 2014, which he claims, could have "an existential threat to Israel."

"Iran wants to be like Egypt was in the 1960s and 1970s. There is a lot of cooperation between Iran, North Korea and Syria. The notion of an Iranian nuclear weapon is an existential threat to Israel and has to be removed," the Jerusalem Post quoted Mossad chief Meir Dagan, as saying.

"If the project has no technical glitches, and if Iran's programme does not malfunction in any way, they will have a bomb to launch by 2014," he told Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee several days after the disputed Iranian elections.

Dagan said that "what matters is the position of the [supreme] leader and this has not changed.

Dagan said Israel would have an easier time explaining the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons to the world, when the country is led by hardliner fanatic president [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] rather than Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is seen as a moderate.

"We mustn't forget Mousavi is the one who started the nuclear program," he said.

He said the violence in the wake of the vote rigging allegations in the Iranian elections wouldn't become a full-fledged revolution.

"The riots take place only in Teheran and one more region, they won't last for long."

Regarding the nuclear threat, Dagan said Iran was closely following the US response to recent threats made by North Korean despot Kim Jong Il.

"If they see that the American policy can't bend or break North Korea, this will certainly affect the Iranians in future talks with the US. The Americans decided to try soft power on the Iranians... Iran thinks the world will come towards it, he said. (ANI)