Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi threatened that Iran would consider pursuing a nuclear weapon if U.S. sanctions continued to "push Iran in that direction." This statement is counter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 2003 fatwa forbidding the pursuit of nuclear weapons. At the same time, an Israeli Defense Forces intelligence assessment estimates that Iran would need at least two years to develop a nuclear weapon, due in part to a lack of components and scientific and technical expertise. However, unnamed Israeli intelligence officials also said that Iran had accumulated enough uranium for almost three nuclear weapons if the material were enriched to weapons grade. Such enrichment is theoretically possible in about five months, according to the Israel officials.