Iran is not looking for just a few nuclear bombs “in the basement,” but rather
to produce dozens each year, International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz
said Tuesday.
Steinitz, who also holds the strategic and intelligence
affairs portfolios, told a security conference in Zichron Ya’acov that Iran’s
nuclear industry was “many times larger than that of either North Korea or
Pakistan.”
He described the Iranian nuclear industry as a “ramified” one
– designed “not to produce a few bombs, but to produce fissionable material for
dozens and hundreds of nuclear bombs.” The issue, he said, is not only of Iran
becoming a nuclear state, but rather becoming a “nuclear
superpower.”
According to Steinitz, the Natanz nuclear facility currently
has about 12,000 centrifuges, with plans to reach 54,000 and the ability to
enrich enough uranium to produce between 20 to 30 atomic bombs a year.