Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor on Saturday urged immediate action on the Iranian nuclear threat, during an interview with Reuters.
"The clock is ticking," he warned, adding, "If there is enough political and economic action put together, there is a good chance that Iran will listen to reason. I don't think they are irrational."
His comments came less than 24 hours after the six world powers - the US, the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, accepted Iran's offer to hold talks, and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that it was possible the discussions could include Teheran's nuclear program.
Meridor, who is also the deputy prime minister, said that he had not yet seen the Iranian proposal, and made no comment on the matter.
When asked in the interview about the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Meridor declined comment, instead stressing that the Islamic republic attaining nuclear ability was "not very far away."
"I don't want to go into details but they are going in that direction...It's not in the distant future," he said.
