http://www.haaretz.com/…
By Haaertz Service

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday refrained from saying the U.S. would prevent Israel from mounting a much-touted attack against Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear aspirations.

“We don’t say yes or no to Israeli military operations. Israel is a sovereign country,” Rice said in an interview with Yahoo! News.

The secretary of state emphasized the importance of using diplomacy to defuse the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and the U.S. charge is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

“We are in very close contact with the Israelis and we talk about the diplomatic track that we’re on,” she told Yahoo! News.

Rice’s comments came a day after Iran failed to accept an incentives package meant to resolve the dispute.

In a possible reference to remarks by Israeli politicians about Jerusalem’s readiness to use military means in order to prevent Iran from going nuclear, the secretary of state added: “[Israelis] have said that diplomacy can work here, and I know they’re doing their part to talk to the countries with which they have good relations to explain why it’s important to have a touch edge to our diplomacy.”

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the Israel Defense Forces is preparing for an “uncompromising” victory should Iran try to attack Israel, speaking in an interview published Thursday in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

“We need to keep every option open,” Barak told the daily. “If they provoke us, or they attack us, our army is prepared to attack and to succeed uncompromisingly.”

Barak also called on the international community to increase its sanctions on Iran.

A United States official said that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany discussed Wednesday to impose tougher sanctions on Tehran.

In the interview with Corriere della Sera, Barak also slammed Security Council’s Resolution 1701 - which put an end to the Second Lebanon War - as ineffective, saying Syria and Iran were imposing control in Lebanon,

Meanwhile, the Israel Air Force’s anti-aircraft division on Tuesday carried out a large exercise testing its response to simultaneous missile strikes by Syria, Hezbollah and Iran.

The exercise began with a single Syrian missile strike on Israel.

Experts predict that a real strike would comprise of multiple strikes from a number of different countries, which was what happened next in Tuesday’s exercise. The simulated Syrian attack was soon joined by salvos of missiles launched by Hezbollah and Iran.

The exercise comes amid heightened tensions between Jerusalem and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear aspirations and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s calls for Israel’s destruction.