Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Tuesday that Iran is one to two years away from obtaining a nuclear weapon, contrasting a remark made by US State Secretary Antony Blinken, warning that the Islamic Republic could develop a bomb in a “matter of weeks.”

Speaking to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, according to the Times of Israel (ToI), Steinitz stipulated that “If they do everything to break out, it will be half a year; in terms of nuclear weapons, they are a year or two away.”

On the backdrop of reported intentions of the Biden administration to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, the Israeli minister lauded former President Donald Trump’s for withdrawing from the international agreement in 2018, as well as instating his “maximum pressure” policy instead.

“Trump’s exit from the nuclear deal weakened Iran,” Steinitz asserted, according to ToI.

While the new administration in Washington has been sending messages that it would seek to resume a deal with Iran, with top Iranian diplomat on Monday calling the European Union to coordinate talks, tensions between Jerusalem and Tehran have hiked to new levels.

Kan reported Monday that Iranian agents have been collecting information on an Israeli embassy in an African state in preparations to carry out an attack.

In January, several members of the cell were arrested, foiling the plot in the undisclosed country.

Source » i24news