Israel still does not exclude the possibility of military strikes against Iran in connection with his refusal to dismantle its nuclear program, said the deputy head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Danny Ayalon.

Thus he commented the words of President Dmitry Medvedev, who on Sunday in an interview with U.S. television CNN cited his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres. According to Medvedev, the Israeli leader during a recent visit to Sochi said: “Israel is not going to cause any strikes on Iran, we - peace-loving country, and will not do it”.

Answering a question, Peres guarantee that Israel would not inflict a military strike on Iran, said Ayalon: “This is certainly not a guarantee.”

“With all respect, I do not think that Russia’s president has the authority to speak on behalf of Israel and, of course, we do not exclude any option (action against Iran)” - quoted the deputy head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Ayalon words were confirmed by the Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. “Israel has a right to defend itself, and all the options will be discussed,” - he said.

In an interview with CNN Russia’s leader expressed his hope that Israel would not resort to military methods for solving the Iranian nuclear issue. According to Medvedev, it would be the worst that you can imagine. President of Russia believes that instead “we must try to push Iran to cooperate.”

U.S. and other Western countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of peaceful nuclear energy program. Tehran rejects these accusations, claiming that its nuclear program is aimed solely at meeting the country’s electricity needs.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported last week that he had no concrete evidence of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

On October 1, scheduled to meet representatives of Iran and the Six countries mediators to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem (Russia, Germany, China, USA, France and Britain).