Israeli official: Iran biggest threat to region.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Washington Pulse - Interview

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Israel's minister of defense, cautioned recently that Iran is expected to produce a nuclear bomb within three years. "We know from all our information that, by 2005, they will be ready to produce to the world for the first time, an Iranian nuclear bomb," he told reporters.

Ben-Eliezer, who also is the leader of Israel's Labor Party and an Army major general, said that other Mideast leaders are worried about the nuclear threat posed by Iran. "Last Wednesday, I spent a day with Mubarak [the president of Egypt]. A few weeks before that, I spent the day with Abdullah, the King of Jordan. ... They are also worried. They are shaky. They really don't know what would happen, how things...