The international community has no moral right to restrict Israel in its actions toward Iran until it sets “do not cross" lines for the Iranian nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

“Those [countries] in the international community that refuse to define ‘red lines’ for Iran have no moral right to give Israel a red light,” Netanyahu said.

The Israeli media interpreted his words as a sign that Israel doesn't need permission to attack Iran and as a statement directed at the United States, which insists that the issue of the Iranian nuclear program should be resolved by means of diplomacy.

“For the moment we can definitely say that neither diplomacy nor sanctions have yielded any results. The sanctions hit the Iranian economy but did not stop the Iranian nuclear program. It is a fact,” the premier said.

The United States and the European Union have applied a series of economic sanctions against Tehran in an attempt to force it to shut down its nuclear program. Israel, however, is considering a military attack.

Israel, the United States and a number of Western European countries suspect that Iran is running a nuclear weapons program under the guise of a civil nuclear project. Iran denies these allegations and maintains that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.