MOSCOW, July 7 - Russia condemns remarks by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Israel could attack Iran if it saw fit, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

 

"Israel can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," Biden said on Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

 

There has been speculation that Israel could attack the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program. Israel and Western powers suspect Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon, while Iran says it needs the program for peaceful power generation.

 

"We are very surprised at these remarks by U.S. Vice President Biden. As we see, they are drastically out of line with the approaches that U.S. President Barack Obama is declaring regarding the Iranian nuclear program, in particular, on the U.S. readiness to enter a dialogue with Iran," spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Barack Obama effectively disavowed Biden's remarks.

 

In an interview with CNN he said the United States is "absolutely not" giving Israel a green light to attack Iran. "We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this [the Iranian nuclear program] in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East," Obama said.