His comment contrasted with a recent assessment by the independent International Institute for Strategic Studies that Tehran was at least five years away from producing enough fissile material for a single bomb, and 15 years was a more likely timeframe.
From correspondents in New York
IRAN might be as little as six months away from having the know-how to build a nuclear bomb, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today.
His comment contrasted with a recent assessment by the independent International Institute for Strategic Studies that Tehran was at least five years away from producing enough fissile material for a single bomb, and 15 years was a more likely timeframe.
Mr Shalom told a meeting of US Jewish leaders in New York: "The question is not if they are going to hold that bomb in 2009 or 2010 or 2011, the question is when they will have the full knowledge.
"According to our people, security and intelligence, they are very, very close. It may be only six months before they will have that full knowledge."
Mr Shalom was speaking as the board of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, was meeting in Vienna to consider whether to refer Iran to the UN security council for possible sanctions over its secretive nuclear program.
Iran insists its nuclear program is purely to make electricity. The US and Europe suspect Tehran of seeking a weapons capability, but think it is far less advanced.
Israel is widely assumed to have a sizable arsenal of nuclear weapons, although it does not publicly acknowledge that and maintains a policy of ambiguity.
