Israel: Decision on Iran Attack 'Very Far Off'

Iran got some good news today, as Israel moved to defuse tensions and Russia indicated it likely would not support more sanctions against the rogue nation. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said a decision on whether to attack Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons was "very far off," the New York Times reports. He added that Israel remains convinced that Iran has not begun building such a weapon.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, said that a military strike against Iran would be a "disaster," and that Russia wasn't keen on sanctions either, which he said were "seriously intended to have a smothering effect on the Iranian economy and the Iranian population, probably in the hopes of provoking discontent." Iran's own foreign minister was in Turkey today in an attempt to set up new international talks. (More Ehud Barak stories.)