Israel defence minister Yoav Galant says Iran nuclear programme 'biggest threat'

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant has said Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons is currently the biggest threat facing Israel.

The new minister, part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new hard-right government, said the threat from Iran "is a great and complex challenge", along with operations being carried out by Palestinians

"The security establishment under my leadership, in joint effort between all its branches, will have the [necessary] response prepared that will allow the Israeli government to take any decision to curb Iran’s nuclear effort," Galant said.

A former commander of Israel’s southern region, Galant has served in several ministerial posts in Netanyahu's previous cabinets.

Is Israel widening its shadow war against Iran?

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His predecessor, Benny Gantz, said last week that Israel could attack Iranian nuclear sites in two or three years.

While Israel has threatened a possible attack numerous times before, Gantz’s comments were unusually explicit about a possible timeline.

With international efforts to renew a 2015 nuclear deal having stalled, Iran has ramped up uranium enrichment, a process with civilian uses that can also eventually yield fuel for nuclear bombs - though they deny working towards the latter.

Experts say Iran could enrich uranium to a weapons-grade level soon, but that building a deliverable warhead would take years.