Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Iran Only Year Away From Bomb: Barak

A Year Away: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak tells CNN that Iran is just a year away from being on an unstoppable path to building a nuclear weapon. Image by getty images

Iran is less than a year away from being unstoppable in its goal of producing a nuclear weapon, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with CNN released on Saturday.

In an advance transcript of an interview to air on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” program on Sunday, Barak said Israel was focused on the prospect of a nuclear Iran and what “should and could be done about it on time.”

“It’s true that it won’t take three years, probably three quarters before no one can do anything practically about it because the Iranians are gradually, deliberately entering into what I call a zone of immunity, by widening the redundancy of their plan, making it spread over many more sites with many more hidden elements,” he said.

Barak, a former Israeli prime minister, said a report earlier this month by the UN nuclear watchdog that Tehran appeared to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be conducting secret research had had a sobering effect on world leaders and was driving urgent, intensive diplomacy.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report confirmed long-standing concerns that Iran aims to build a nuclear weapon, which Israel sees as a threat to its existence. Tehran has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out possible air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

“I don’t think that that is a subject for public discussion,” Barak said when asked whether Israel was prepared to attack Iran to stop its nuclear ambitions.

He said a nuclear Iran would have deep repercussions for the Middle East, prompting countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to “turn nuclear” and starting a countdown to putting nuclear materials in the hands of terrorists.

Barak declined to comment on widespread speculation an explosion at an Iranian military base last week that killed 17 troops including an officer regarded as the architect of Iran’s missile defense systems was the work of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency.

“No. I don’t know anything that I can contribute to this conversation,” he said.

Iran has said the explosion took place during research on weapons that could strike Israel but has denied speculation of possible sabotage by Israel or the United States.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.