"Iran already has surface-to-surface missiles capable of being equipped with nuclear warheads with a 1,500 (930 miles) kilometer range but it will in the future have missiles with a range of 5,000 kilometers, which will threaten the whole of Europe," Aharon Zeevi told a conference in Tel Aviv.

Iranian President Mahmoud "Ahmadinejad is promising the end of history in two or three years' time and I suggest that we believe him," Zeevi added in remarks that were carried by Israeli radio.

Zeevi did not say when he expected Iran to have acquired the longer range missiles.

Israel has come to view Iran as its number one enemy, alarmed by Ahmadinejad's call for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".

While Iran insists its nuclear work is only designed to meet energy needs, Israel and the West believe it is a front to develop atomic weapons -- claims denied by Tehran.

General Amos Yadlin, who succeeded Zeevi as the military intelligence supremo earlier this year, said last week that Iran was likely to have acquired a nuclear bomb by 2010.

Related Links