US president tells Israeli TV channel that the US will not wait until the last minute to stop alleged weapons programme.
Iran is "over a year or so" from getting a nuclear bomb, US President Barack Obama has told an Israeli television channel, a week before visiting Israel, warning that a military option remained on the table.
In an interview with Channel 2 on Thursday, Obama laid out a clear timeline for Tehran to acquire a military nuclear capacity, while insisting that Washington would not wait until the last minute to take action to stop it.
"We think that it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously, we don't want to cut it too close," he told the private station.
Obama is due to arrive in Israel on March 20 for a three-day visit, his first since being elected president in 2008. He will also travel to the Palestinian territories.
Addressing the UN in September, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, set a "red line" of spring or summer for when Iran would be close to weapons capability, suggesting prospects for an Israeli attack around that time.
But Iran's latest talks with world powers, plus adjustments in Tehran's uranium enrichment processes, are widely thought to have pushed back that deadline.
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