"Israel now faces the fateful decision whether it will allow Iran to get nuclear weapons thus constituting a true existential threat to Israel, or whether they will strike as the Israelis have done twice before against nuclear programs in the hands of hostile states," Bolton said in a radio interview with WABC on Sunday.
“I don’t think Israel has much time,” he said. “Frankly, they should have done this years ago.”
The former US official made the comments while Iran is set to hold another round of nuclear talks with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany in Geneva on November 7-8.
Bolton also criticized the administration of President Barack Obama for negotiations with Iran.
“If there is anybody left in Israel who thinks that the United States will use military force against Iran’s program, they really need to seriously re-examine their basic values. It isn’t going to happen under the Obama administration. I’ll just say it again. It isn’t going to happen,” Bolton said.
Bolton’s remarks came a few days after former Pentagon chief Leon Panetta said threats of using military force against Iran are necessary to back up US policy.
According to Panetta, although Washington “has implemented unprecedented sanctions and pressure on Iran, we may very well have to use military force to back up our policy.”
Addressing the meeting of the pro-Israeli Anti-Defamation League (ADL), he said Washington has “no friend, no better ally in the world than Israel.”
Last month, former US vice president Dick Cheney said that military action in Iran is likely unavoidable in order to stop Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Cheney made the remarks after host of ABC's 'This Week' program asked him, "is military action against Iran inevitable?"
"I have trouble seeing how we're going to achieve our objective short of that (military action)," Cheney said.
"I doubt very much that the diplomacy will be effective if there's not the prospect that, if diplomacy fails, that we will, in fact, resort to military force," he added. “I don’t have a lot of confidence in the administration to be able to negotiate an agreement."
The Israel lobby in the United States is putting more pressure on the Obama administration to toughen sanctions against Iran and not to reach a deal.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most powerful Israeli lobby in the US, has recently sent a memo to members of Congress, insisting that Iran does not have the right to enrich uranium.
During a speech at the UN General Assembly in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his accusations against Tehran and threatened the nation with unilateral military action.
The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear program.
Iran argues that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to acquire and develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
