JERUSALEM, Nov 7: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Friday issued a thinly veiled call for the United States not to rule out the possibility of a military strike against Iran because of its nuclear ambitions.

“We don’t rule out any option. We recommend others don’t rule out any option either,” Barak told journalists after talks with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“We are convinced that Iran continues to try to obtain a nuclear weapon and continues to cheat everybody by holding negotiations on the control of such weapons,” Barak said.

On Thursday Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said possible US talks with Iran may be problematic, highlighting possible disagreements with a Barack Obama administration.

“Dialogue at this point may be interpreted as a sign of weakness... I think that premature dialogue at a time where Iran thinks that the world has given up on sanctions may be problematic,” she said.

Obama warned during a visit to Israel in July that a nuclear Iran would pose a “grave threat”, but he also reiterated his openness to meeting Tehran’s representatives if the conditions were appropriate.

Israel is widely considered to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, although it has never officially confirmed nor denied having such weapons.

Meanwhile, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called US President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday and both spoke about the need to press ahead with the peace process with the Palestinians, Olmert’s office said.

The current peace talks, launched nearly a year ago at a conference sponsored by US President George W. Bush, have been bogged down from the start by violence, and bitter disputes over Jewish settlement building and the future of Jerusalem.

The White House said on Thursday that an agreement was unlikely to be reached between the sides before Bush leaves office in January.

In a statement, Olmert’s office said the prime minister and Obama “both spoke about the need to continue to advance the peace process, and this, while safeguarding the security of Israel”.

The statement said Obama and Olmert also “spoke about the long friendship between the United States and Israel and the need to preserve and strengthen this friendship”.

The statement provided no other details about the conversation, the first between the two leaders since Obama’s victory in the US presidential election on Tuesday.—Agencies