US President Barack Obama has strongly denied in an interview that the United States had given Israel a green light to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. Asked on CNN television whether Washington had given Israel the go-ahead for such an attack, Obama said: "Absolutely not." In the interview with the US network broadcast from Russia where he is on an official visit on Tuesday, Obama added that Washington could not "dictate" the security interests of other countries and would seek to settle the dispute through diplomacy. "What is also true is, it is the policy of the United States to try to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities," Obama said. This would be achieved "through diplomatic channels," he said.

The remarks followed comments by Vice President Joe Biden over the weekend that the United States would not stand in the way of Israel in its response to Iran's nuclear ambitions. "Israel can determine for itself... what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," Biden told ABC television's "This Week" program in an interview broadcast on Sunday.