A military strike on Iran was "far from being Israel's preferred option," Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan said on Monday, Haaretz reported.
Dagan said that "there are currently tools and methods that are much more effective."
Iran's nuclear program was still far from the point of no return, and that Iran's situation is "the most problematic it has been in since the revolution" in 1979, he added.
But Israel's strategic situation is also "the worst in its history," he warned, adding that Israel itself has contributed a lot to this deterioration. As an example, he cited Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's decision to humiliate the Turkish ambassador last year by demonstratively seating him on a low chair.
Dagan made his remarks on the same day that visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta passed on a clear message from his boss in Washington: The United States opposes any Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
At a joint press conference with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Panetta stressed that any steps against Iran's nuclear program must be taken in coordination with the international community.