Israel could attack Iranian nuclear facilities in two or three years, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said.

"You may cross the sky to the east in two or three years and take part in an attack on nuclear sites in Iran, for which we are preparing,” Defense Minister Beni Gantz said in a speech to Air Force graduates, according to Reuters.

For more than a decade, Israel has veiledly threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if it considers world powers' diplomacy with Tehran a dead end. However, some experts doubt that Israel has the military capacity to inflict lasting damage on Iranian targets, which are remote, dispersed and well protected.

According to an Israeli military intelligence forecast for 2023, Iran will continue on its current path of slow progress in the nuclear sphere.

"Iran will only change its policies if extreme sanctions are imposed on it; then it could decide to accelerate enrichment to military grade," the report, which was confirmed by a military official citing authentic intelligence assessments, said.

In line with a policy of ambiguity aimed at deterring surrounding enemies and avoiding provocations that could provoke an arms race, Israel neither confirms nor denies its possession of nuclear weapons.

Unlike Iran, Israel is not a signatory to the voluntary 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which offers access to peaceful nuclear technology in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons.