WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Wednesday that Iran's nuclear program could reach "the point of no-return" within a year unless there was strong international pressure to stop it.

Mofaz, speaking at the Washington Institute, did not say exactly what he meant but an Israeli official said he took the minister to mean that in one year Iran would no longer need any foreign assistance to put together a nuclear weapon.

Israel, itself thought to have up to 300 nuclear warheads, strongly opposes any Iranian attempt to make a nuclear bomb.

The Washington Post said in August that Israel could make a lightning strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, but an Israeli intelligence source said such an attack was unlikely.

Mofaz said: "Concentrated efforts are needed to delay, to stop or to prevent the Iranian nuclear program. From my perspective, the way that the U.S. is leading the effort ... has started to bear fruit.

"We believe that Iran could reach the point of no-return in one year from now and any kind of pressure will be helpful."

The United States, in conjunction with the main European countries, is pressing Iran to comply with the nuclear demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

An IAEA report this week criticized Iran's actions but said there was no proof it had a weapons program.

But arms experts say it supported U.S. claims that Tehran has a secret atomic weapons program by detailing a two-decade cover-up of research possibly linked to bomb making.