Text of report by Israeli NRG Ma'ariv website on 1 August<
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"Israel has presented to the United States new intelligence, indicating that the activities of Iran's "weapons group" have been resumed and that Iran is close to having the ability to mount nuclear warheads on long-range missiles. This information was presented in the contacts that have recently been held between Israel and the United States as well as in the strategic dialogue meeting held by the Israeli team, headed by Minister Sha'ul Mufaz, in Washington on Thursday.
According to information received in Israel, a new and updated national intelligence estimate is going to be published in the United States in the next few months after the last one shocked the world with the conclusion that Iran's secret "weapons group" has been shut down since 2003. Now the hope in Israel is that the United States will change its estimate.
According to senior intelligence sources, Britain, France and Germany share Israel's information and assessment, whereas at this stage, only the United States remains alone in adhering to its position.
According to the information in Israel and in many European capitals, in 2009, the Iranians will attain the capability to enrich enough uranium to build a nuclear bomb. One year later, the enrichment will reach military levels and the production of fissile material in sufficient quantities, including the know-how for installing a nuclear bomb on the platform of a long-range missile. Iran has a military programme known as "Ashura" to extend the missiles' range by thousands of kilometres so that at the first stage they will be able to cover most of Europe's territory."
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"At this stage, the Israeli effort has been encountering rather stubborn US opposition. Defence Minister Ehud Baraq has said recently in closed conversations that "Israel has no political window of opportunity to strike Iran." In Washington, Mufaz tried to apply additional pressure. A fierce behind-the-scenes battle is currently under way in Washington between Vice President Dick Cheney, who supports an attack on Iran and holds a militant position on the issue, on the one hand, and the secretary of defence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the other hand. The latter have recently made appeasing statements and have vetoed an Israeli attack."
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