WASHINGTON: The United States has persuaded Israel that Iran would take one year or longer to build a nuclear weapon, dimming the prospects of a preemptive strike on Iran`s nuclear facilities, The New York Times said late Thursday.

"We think that they have roughly a year dash time," President Barack Obama`s top advisor on nuclear issues Gary Samore was quoted as saying in the daily`s online edition.

By "dash time," the official referred to the shortest time Iran would take to build a nuclear weapon, judging from its existing facilities and capacity to convert stocks of low-enriched uranium into weapons-grade material, a process known as "breakout."

Samore said the United States believes international inspectors would detect any Iranian move toward "breakout" within weeks, leaving the US and Israel ample time to craft a response.

Israel has hinted in the past that it would likely attack Iranian nuclear facilities should the Islamic republic try to build an atomic bomb it would consider a direct threat to Israeli territory.

Israel believes Iran is only months away from such a scenario, while the US intelligence thinks it would take longer.

Based on intelligence collected over the past year, the new US assessment is not clear on what problems Iran`s uranium enrichment program -- which it insists is for peaceful purposes -- is confronting.

The daily said the lag could be due to poor centrifuge design, difficulty in obtaining components or accelerated Western efforts to sabotage the nuclear program.

BDST: 9:54 HRS, August 20, 2010