The chairman of the Israeli parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defense committee, Tzahi Hanegbi, hailed the agreement by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany reached in Berlin Tuesday.
"It is important that the five members of the Security Council and Germany are in agreement, as the Iranian leadership has recently made it seem as if their nuclear program enjoys impunity and as if the sword was not hanging above their head," Hanegbi told army radio.
"Before considering a military option against the Iranian nuclear program one must prove that all the other means have been exhausted," he said.
Widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear program -- a charge that Tehran denies.
Israel considers the Islamic republic its arch-enemy following repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for it to be wiped off the map.
In Berlin Tuesday, the Security Council's five permanent members -- the U.K., China, France, Russia and the U.S. -- plus Germany agreed on the text of a new resolution against Iran due to be presented for a vote in the coming weeks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian journalists after the meeting that the new draft resolution envisages direct talks with Tehran that would include the U.S.
A senior U.S. official said the new resolution "increases the severity of the sanctions already in place and will also introduce new elements."
The group had agreed not to distribute the text before presenting it to the other 10 members of the Security Council, the U.S. official said, saying "it has some new elements that will be unveiled in New York."