Iran may be able to build a missile capable of striking the United States by 2015, according to an unclassified US Defense Department report on Iran's military released on Monday.
"With sufficient foreign assistance, Iran could probably develop and test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the United States by 2015," said the April report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
A classified version of the report was also submitted to Congress.
The new report also included an assessment of Iran's support for insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as its anti-Israel proxies Hamas and Hizbullah. "Iran, through its long-standing relationship with Lebanese Hizbullah, maintains a capability to strike Israel directly and threatens Israeli and US interests worldwide," it said.
In May 2009, a US National Intelligence Estimate estimated that Tehran was unlikely to have a ICBMs until between 2015 and 2020, according to US officials who saw the report at the time.
A threat to the entire world
Israel has urged the US to take drastic measures against Iran, which has repeatedly threatened and cursed the Jewish state. However, Israeli leaders and experts have noted that Iran is not only a threat to Israel – but to the rest of the world as well.
Experts are unanimous in estimating that at present, Iran's military cannot possibly win a war against the US. In 2007, the US's defense budget was 85.2 times larger than Iran's, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. However, if Iran possesses nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to US soil, it could pose a threat to US civilians.
The US military failed to shoot down a simulated Iranian missile strike on the United States in January, in a botched exercise over the Pacific Ocean.