Israel's army chief said on Tuesday Tehran could start enriching uranium by March 2006 and might be capable of producing nuclear bombs within three years.
Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz gave the assessment to parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee in a closed-door briefing days after anti-Israeli comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"If the Iranians continue now then they will be able to begin enriching uranium at the start of March," Halutz told the parliamentary forum, according to its chairman, Yuval Steinitz.
Asked how long it would take for Iran to produce a nuclear weapon, Steinitz, speaking to reporters, quoted Halutz as saying: "It would take two to three years."