Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are possible but in case they are delivered they will have small impact on Iran and on the contrary will push Tehran into producing weapons of mass destruction, former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov told Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.

“The United States does not want this airstrike to be delivered before the presidential election. They [the U.S.] are restraining Israel. But we must understand that both American and Israeli administrations have various [political] forces that express different positions,” Primakov, who is also an expert on the Middle East, said.

Primakov said Iran is capable to recover in two years in case it is subjected to an airstrike, but after this period Tehran will withdraw from the Nuclear Weapons Non-proliferationTreaty and will start making its own weapons of mass destruction.

Israel and Western powers suspect Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, saying its program is of a civilian nature. Israel has recently stepped up its verbal threats to attack Iran if it does not abandon its nuclear ambitions.