Former Israeli occupation Prime Minister Ehud Barak

Former Israeli occupation Prime Minister Ehud Barak claimed in an article published Monday in Time that Iran is on the verge of being able to produce nuclear weapons, adding that military action will no longer be effective.

In his article, Barak claimed that "both Israel and (for sure) the U.S. can operate over the skies of Iran against this or that site or installation and destroy it. But once Iran is a de-facto threshold nuclear state this kind of attack simply cannot delay the Iranians from turning nuclear."

Barak, who served as "Israel's" Security Minister and IOF chief, considered that when Iran makes a decision "this summer", it will become a nuclear threshold state, claiming that it will take the Iranians "from 18 to 24 months to polish their skills treating metal uranium and packing it into a missile warhead."

"But these steps can be executed in a small lab or workshop and cannot be easily followed, never mind stopped," he added.

The former Israeli official wondered why the US or "Israel" hadn't prepared attack plans against Iran when former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Barak said that "it’s time to face reality," and to "start to think and prepare for the real new phase" with Iran as a nuclear state.

According to Barak, the desired course of action would be regional diplomacy, "independent Israeli attack plans," and awaiting the "collapse of the Iranian regime."

Last week, IOF chief Aviv Kochavi stressed that “preparing a military option against the Iranian nuclear program is a moral necessity and a national security imperative.”

"The preparations are continuing intensively, but preventing Iran from nuclearization through diplomacy is the preferred path,” he added.

It is noteworthy that Tehran continuously stressed that it is not seeking to build nuclear weapons, confirming that it only aims at benefiting from nuclear energy in peaceful ways.