Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran was now closer to crossing the "red line" after which it would be able to build a nuclear weapon but had not yet reached that stage.

"The Iranians are closer to the red line," his office quoted him as telling visiting American Jewish leaders. "They haven t crossed it yet but they are shortening the time needed to cross it."This must be stopped," he said. "We need to apply stronger pressure and harsher sanctions."In a September address to the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu called for a "clear red line" to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb.

He used a red marker pen to draw a line through a cartoon diagram of a bomb to illustrate what the international community s limit for Iran s uranium enrichment program should be.He said Iran had 70 percent of the necessary uranium for a bomb and warned that at the current pace of enrichment, the Islamic republic could have nearly all the material needed to create a first bomb by summer.

The Iranian government says it is enriching uranium to 20 percent purity -- a short technical step from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear bomb -- for a medical research reactor. The West believes the effort hides a military goal.Much of the international community fears Iran s nuclear programme includes efforts to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.Israel believes Iran must be prevented from reaching military nuclear capabilities at any cost and refuses to rule out military intervention to that end.