Maj.-Gen. (res.) Meir Dagan: Al Qaeda units operating near Israel’s borders include terrorists who fought in Iraq.
Meir Dagan, head of the Israel Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad), predicted today that Iran was liable to obtain full nuclear capability in 2006, and operational nuclear capability within a year or two.
Dagan warned against Iran’s nuclear capability in an annual review in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He also warned that Al Qaeda terrorist units were coming close to the borders of Israel and the territories. He disclosed that these units included terrorists who had fought in Iraq, and were now attempting to undermine the stability of the regimes in Egypt and Jordan. The head of IDF military intelligence also stressed this threat in his recent briefing for the committee.
Dagan supported the evaluation by outgoing IDF military intelligence head Major-General Aharon Ze'evi Farkash last week that Iran was determined to produce a nuclear bomb. Dagan said, “If there is no interference, Iran is liable to obtain the technological capability to produce enriched uranium within a few months. Once it can do so independently, it is only a matter of time before it will be able to produce enough fissionable material to produce a nuclear bomb.”
In a previous evaluation given to the committee early this year, Dagan noted that Iran’s point-of-no-return in the process of developing a nuclear bomb would be the end of 2005, and Iran would be able to produce a nuclear bomb within 3-4 years. His assessment today contained an element of urgency.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on December 27, 2005