MOSCOW. Jan 27 (Interfax) - Israel is not planning to deal a military strike on Iran so far, as not all peaceful methods of resolving its nuclear problem have been used, said Anna Azari, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's deputy director general.
"We don't think that all peaceful methods have been exhausted. And we think that pressure should be exerted by applying sanctions and UN resolutions," she said in an interview with Interfax.
"If we wanted to make use of military moves, we would not have spent so much energy searching for other ways to influence Iran," the Israeli diplomat said.
Azari described the West's latest sanctions against Iran as a step in the right direction.
"For all that, Israel has absolutely nothing against the Iranian people. But we do not see other methods of pressuring the current regime in Iran," she said.
Azari said one should wait for some time before saying whether the latest sanctions were effective.
"Let us wait and see. They are just being introduced and they will take a few months to start working. By all accounts, the earlier introduced sanctions are having their impact on the situation in Iran. Let us give the sanctions a chance," she said.
But she made a point that Israel will not be trying to persuade Russia to join the new sanctions against Iran.
"We will exchange views and opinions on the situation in an open and direct dialogue. We are not obliged to over-persuade each other on any issue," the Israeli diplomat said.