Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo: wiki commons.

Benny Gantz, chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said Wednesday that Islamic fundamentalism in Iran is a “dangerous” factor when coupled with the country’s development of nuclear capability.

Gantz called Iran’s leadership “rational” in an interview with Haaretz, saying he believes Ayatollah Ali Khamenei most likely realizes that building a nuclear bomb would be “a mistake” and doubting that Khamenei would “go the extra mile” past developing nuclear capability.

However, Gantz said that, “such a capability, in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who at particular moments could make different calculations, is dangerous.”