Israel is far away from making a decision about military action against Iran, the country's defence minister has declared.

Ehud Barak, in an interview with Army Radio, refused to make forecasts about when a plan to tackle Iran's nuclear programme might emerge.

"We don't have a decision to go forward with these things," he said. "The whole thing is very far away."

Speculation has been growing for months about a possible Israeli strike to force Iran to suspend its nuclear programme. Iran claims its nuclear ambitions are not directed at building bombs. But the Iranian government has refused several ultimata made by the U N Security Council to halt uranium enrichment.

Last week the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, revealed that he share d Western and Israeli fears about the Iranians' nuclear project.