Israeli overseas intelligence service Mossad chief Meir Dagan said on Tuesday that Iran is seeking more than one nuclear bomb and it will attain technological independence within a number of months.

Dagan told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset (parliament) that it's just a matter of time for Iran to make a nuclear bomb, but he refused to predict when Iran will be able to produce such a bomb.

"There exists a strategic Iranian decision to reach nuclear independence and the capability to produce bombs," Dagan said in an annual assessment presented to the Knesset panel.

"Iran's chances of attaining the necessary technology depends on whether its plans will be thwarted by outside actors or whether it will be able to advance the uranium enrichment process," Dagan stressed.

He appreciated the diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing or at least delaying Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons, saying these efforts have resulted in a two-year delay in Iran's nuclear program.

"It is very important for the United Nations Security Council to implement economic sanctions against Iran," Dagan underlined.

Speaking after Dagan's assessment, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz said if Iran's nuclear program continues unchecked, it will certainly have operational nuclear capability within one or two years.

He added that if Iran possesses atomic weaponry, the region will become a "black Middle East" that will pose a danger and a threat to the entire world.

A nuclear Iran will mean an existential threat to Israel, Steinitz said, calling on the international community to take steps to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Source: Xinhua