Israel will ultimately decree on an Iranian strike on its own, its military chief of staff said in an interview broadcast Saturday, as a senior U.S. official arrived for talks on the Islamic Republic.

"Israel is the central guarantor of its own security; this is our role as army, the State of Israel should defend itself," Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told state-owned Channel One TV.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks in Nicosia Thursday with Cypriot leaders on energy cooperation and economic ties, during a landmark visit to the east Mediterranean island.

"I came here to develop our bilateral ties, economic ties, and our ties in the field of energy," he said after talks at the presidential palace in Nicosia with President Demetris Christofias.

Iran's "terrorist activities" have been exposed to the world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday following a series of blasts in India and Thailand, which Israel has blamed on Tehran.

"At this time, Iran's terrorist activities have been exposed to everyone," he said, accusing the Islamic republic of "harming innocent diplomats across the world."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will have chosen to "abandon the path of peace" if he implements a reconciliation deal with Hamas signed on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned.

He issued the warning shortly after Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal inked the deal in Qatar that will see the Palestinian president serve as the head of an interim consensus government in the run-up to elections this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned his officials to stop "blabbing" about the possibility of an attack targeting Iran's nuclear program, the newspaper Maariv reported on Monday.

Netanyahu is said to have directed the instruction at a number of military officials and government ministers who he believes have been speaking too freely about a potential Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Sunday he did not think Israel had made a decision on whether to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear installations, a threat that has rattled the region.

Obama -- seeking to reassure Americans over the danger posed by Tehran's suspect nuclear program, and any negative side-effects for the United States -- said Washington was working "in lockstep" with Israel to bring Iran to heel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that economic and military might are Israel's only guarantee for peace and security following the latest developments in Iran and Syria.

"In the past few days we received a reminder of what kind of neighborhood we live in," Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said time is running out for a settlement but he is not giving up, after Israeli and Palestinian leaders rejected a return to direct negotiations.

"Basically I am not disappointed, it is expected", Ban said late Thursday at the end of a three day trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories where he got little joy from political leaders and shoes hurled at him by protesters in Gaza.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a "strong likelihood" that Israel will strike Iran's nuclear installations this spring, the Washington Post said Thursday in an editorial.

When asked about the opinion piece by reporters travelling with him to a NATO meeting in Brussels, Panetta brushed it aside.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon came under a brief shower of shoes as he entered Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday, hours after a barrage of rockets was fired from the territory into Israel.

As the U.N. chief entered the Palestinian territory, protesters threw shoes, sand and small stones at his convoy, which was briefly held up before continuing on to Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.