The Jerusalem Post reports: “Iran was moving ballistic missile production into an industrial scale, and was about to become the top missile producer in the world, with intercontinental missiles able to reach European cities, including London, Israel Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said during an interview with The Times on Sunday.

Describing Israel’s reasoning for conducting airstrikes on Iran, Marmorstein told The Times that ‘We actually acted because of two existential threats. One was nuclear, and we acted when we did because Iran was at the 11th hour of being able to build a bomb. But the other was the ballistic threat.’

The US estimated Iran possessed approximately 3,000 ballistic missiles before Operation Rising Lion began, but was undergoing attempts to increase production to 20,000, Marmorstein stated, with missiles capable of carrying two-ton payloads, The Times noted.

When discussing the missile which killed four people in Beersheba on Tuesday shortly before the ceasefire came into effect, Marmorstein commented, ‘Imagine if Tehran sent 10,000 of those. That threat was as existential to us as a nuclear bomb.’

Iran was getting ‘closer and closer’ to a nuclear bomb, almost reaching ‘the point of no return,’ Marmorstein said…”