Israel regards Iran as "a clear and present danger", Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said.
His comments came after the Islamic republic's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".
Mr Shalom said it was clear that Iran was trying to develop a programme to make nuclear weapons.
Iran denies this, but insists it has the right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme for peaceful purposes.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Mr Shalom said: "We believe that Iran is trying to buy time... so it can develop a nuclear bomb."
He added that he believed "Iran is a clear and present danger".
'World oppressor'
Mr Ahmadinejad made his comments at a conference in the Iranian capital Tehran entitled The World without Zionism.
He said Israel's establishment was "a move by the world oppressor (the West) against the Islamic world".
Referring to Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Mr Ahmadinejad said: "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."
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