(Reuters) Israel believes that within 2-3 years Iran will have intercontinental missiles able to hit the United States. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz's assessment, in an interview with CNBC, was in line with an unclassified U.S. Defense Department report in 2010 that estimated Iran may be able to build a U.S.-range missile by 2015. "They (the Iranians) are working now and investing a lot of billions of dollars in order to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles," said Steinitz. "And we estimate that in two to three years they will have the first intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach the east coast of America. So their aim is to put a direct nuclear ballistic threat...to Europe and to the United States." Three weeks ago, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon said Iran had been working on developing a missile capable of striking the U.S. at a military base rocked by an explosion in November. Yaalon said the base was a research and development facility where Iran was preparing to develop a missile with a range of 10,000 km (6,000 miles).
2012-02-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive