Iran could have bomb in two years: Israeli intelligence

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Iran will be able to build an atom bomb within two years, the head of Israel's Mossad overseas intelligence service, General Meir Dagan, was quoted as saying.

"One or two years from now at the latest, Iran will have the fissionable material to make a nuclear bomb. From then on, producing the bomb is just a straightforward technical process," Dagan said, according to Israeli public radio.

"In the coming months, without any hindrance, Iran will be independent in terms of nuclear technological material," he added.

Dagan was speaking during an annual presentation to Israel's parliamentary defence and foreign affairs committee.

Israeli politicians and military commanders have recently stepped up warnings about Iran, which the Jewish state and the United States accuse of trying to develop a nuclear arsenal. Iran denies the charge.

Israeli fears were heightened when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in October called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."

Israel itself is believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, although it has never admitted to having a non-conventional arsenal.