Iran may develop the know-how to make nuclear weapons in six to nine months, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Friday. He called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran. "Iran poses an existential threat, and that's why I think that the entire world understands that it's impossible to give such an extremist regime the possibility of having a nuclear bomb that can essentially threaten the integrity of the world," Shalom said Friday in an interview with Israel Radio.The day before, Shalom warned that Tehran was close to knowing how to make nuclear weapons. "Iran's announcement of their decision to renew uranium enrichment is, of course, a very dangerous announcement that must be viewed with appropriate concern," he told foreign diplomats at a reception at the President's Residence on Thursday. "Unfortunately, we see that indeed Iran will do everything to reach nuclear capability. The question is not whether Iran will have a nuclear bomb in 2009 or 2011. The question is when will they have sufficient knowledge [to build one], and we think that this possibility even exists, possibly, in another six to nine months."
Shalom also called on the International Atomic Energy Association to use its June 13 meeting to make a "clear and unequivocal decision" to bring the Iran issue before the United Nations Security Council, which he said "has the sole authority to impose sanctions on Iran."
| Time to up-tempo the training missions in the Negev. |