Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Tuesday said Iran was working on advanced uranium centrifuges at new underground sites being built near its Natanz nuclear plant, providing figures that appeared to extend beyond those published by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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"Iran is making an effort to complete the manufacturing and installation of 1,000 additional advanced IR6 centrifuges in its nuclear facilities, including new facilities being built at underground sites abutting Natanz," Gantz said in a speech at Reichman University in Herlizya.
According to a report by the IAEA on March 3, Iran had installed or planned to install a total of three IR6 cascades, amounting to around 660 machines.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said the machines were moved from Karaj, near Tehran, to the new location, which he said was some three floors belowground, possibly to protect it from airstrikes.
Iran, said Gantz, "continues to accumulate irreversible knowledge and experience in the development, research, production and operation of advanced centrifuges. It stands just a few weeks away from obtaining fissile material needed for a first bomb."
The Israeli defense minister also discussed the global situation amid the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Israel's challenges against Iran, and the recent wave of terror in the country.
Gantz's speech came two days before a planned trip to Washington, where he will meet with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
At the beginning of his speech, the defense minister linked the war in Ukraine, where he said Israel was in the right place "ethically and strategically," to the Iranian threat.
"One of the lessons from the war in Ukraine is that it's correct to mobilize economic, diplomatic, and if necessary, military might, as soon as possible, to perhaps prevent war. This is true regarding our situation with Iran," Gantz said, calling for a multipronged regional and global pressure campaign against the Islamic republic to stave off possible war.
"The price of this future war can be spared or mitigated by applying various multidimensional pressures, by the entire world, through broad regional and international cooperation. The price for tackling the global and regional challenges posed by Iran is higher than it was a year ago and lower than it will be in a year,
"The cost of such a future war, which we hope will not happen, can be prevented or reduced with tougher negotiations by world powers," he said.
Meanwhile, the number of strategic weapons such as long-range missiles and drones in the hands of Iranian proxies has increased "significantly" over the past year, including in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, the defense minister noted.
"[Iran] is developing operational platforms throughout the region with accurate capabilities including cruise missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that have a range of thousands of kilometers," he said.
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Iranian proxies are already using those capabilities provided by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' clandestine Quds Force to "attack oil reserves, airports and civilian targets," Gantz said, referring to the numerous attacks against Gulf States, Saudi Arabia and American targets in Iraq.
The defense minister also confirmed that the IRGC in February launched a pair of drones from Iran toward Israel. The two Shahed-136 drones were shot down by American fighter jets close to Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
"The [IRGC] launched a pair of drones from Iran itself, towards Israel. Among other things, based on the fact that the UAVs had parachutes attached, we estimate that the purpose of the launch was to parachute them into the Gaza Strip or Judea and Samaria and for them to be collected by terrorist organizations," he said.
The IDF has confirmed it intercepted at least four other Iranian drones heading for Israel or the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent years.
