President Obama has reportedly held a one-hour telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to defuse tensions surrounding their differences over a military strike on Iran. Earlier this week, Netanyahu said the United States has no “moral right” to tell Israel not to launch an attack and demanded that Obama impose “red lines.” In Washington, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland refused to directly respond to Netanyahu’s comments.

Victoria Nuland: “I’m not going to comment today on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements. But as we said yesterday, we are in continuous consultation with the government of Israel, with our allies there, on what we are seeing in Iran, on the path forward, and we will continue to do so. But we don’t think it’s particularly useful to have those conversations in public. It doesn’t help the process, and it doesn’t help the integrity of the diplomacy.”