Israel and the United States are in discussion on setting a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear programme, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“We’re discussing it right now with the United States,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Canada’s CBC television aired late on Sunday.

In the interview, two days after Canada suspended diplomatic relations with Tehran over its nuclear project, Netanyahu again signalled that a clear boundary - which he has yet to define publicly - could obviate the need for military action.

Netanyahu’s recent calls for world powers to set a “clear red line” that would show they were determined to stop Tehran’s nuclear drive has suggested a growing impatience with the United States, Israel’s main ally.

Washington, which has resisted the idea of laying down red lines for Iran in the past, has been pressing the Israeli leader to give diplomacy and sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic more time to work to rein in Iran’s nuclear work peacefully.

Recent heightened Israeli rhetoric has stoked speculation that Israel might attack Iran before the U.S. elections in November, believing that President Barack Obama would give it military help and not risk alienating pro-Israeli voters.

DIFFERENCES IN ISRAELI LEADERSHIP

But Netanyahu has faced opposition to any go-it-alone attack from Israeli security chiefs and its popular president, Shimon Peres. Opinion polls show a majority of Israelis do not want their military to strike Iran without U.S. support.