Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency R. James Woolsey told a radio host today that Americans "have to get ready" for Iran to retaliate against international pressure over its nuclear program with terrorist attacks, including, possibly, a strike on the Statue of Liberty.

Woolsey, who currently serves as chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, was speaking on Aaron Klein Investigative Radio on New York's WABC Radio.

Klein pointed out that Iran supports the militant Islamist group Hezbollah, which has been designated by the U.S. and several other nations as a terrorist organization, and asked Woolsey if he foresees the group plotting attacks on Jewish targets in the near future.

"Yes," Woolsey responded. "They [Iran] have Hezbollah, and it is the most professional terrorist organization in the world. It makes al-Qaida look like a real group of amateurs. And they have expanded around the world."

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He continued, "We will have a very serious problem from terrorism if we insist on Iran shutting down its nuclear program, but we have to do that. And so we have to get ready to deal with assaults on government facilities, on famous symbols of the country like the Statue of Liberty, on Jewish synagogues, there are a number of things Hezbollah could go after … and they probably will."

Listen to the interview in its entirety below:

Woolsey further warned that despite Iran's diplomatic relations and feints toward international cooperation, the nation's work on developing nuclear technology and enriching uranium remains a potentially urgent threat to Israel, the Mideast and, indeed, the world.

"Iran is trying yet again to stall the international community," Woolsey posited. "The Persians invented chess and they're good at it."

Woolsey also said that while it may take longer for Iran to develop the technology to deliver nuclear warheads by missile, "a simple weapon of highly enriched uranium, such as we dropped on Hiroshima, that they might well be able to do relatively quickly."