Iran says US President Barack Obama’s war talk is designed to lighten up the atmosphere ahead of stage-setting talks with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

The new US administration has been pursuing double-edged policy of carrots and sticks with Tehran despite weeks of promising “a new beginning” with Iran.

“I’ve been very clear that I don’t take any options off the table with respect to Iran. I don’t take options off the table when it comes to US security, period,” said Obama in an interview with Newsweek conducted last Wednesday.

The US President went on to add that he is not “naive” and understands very well as to why Israeli officials view Iran as an “existential threat.”

The interview was published a day before Israeli hawkish Premier Benjamin Netanyahu was to arrive in Washington and Israeli Defense Minster Ehud Barak called for considering military measures against the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi, responded to the interview on Monday, saying that Obama’s threats do not chime with his oft-stated promises of bringing ‘change’ to Washington.

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He asserted that when Obama admitted that Washington’s thirty-year approach towards Tehran was wrong and promised to rewrite US policy on Tehran, the Iranian nation took him at his word.

“We regarded this as a realistic statement … Iran believed it should give a chance to Obama for practical changes,” said Qashqavi. “The world is now waiting for action and change in practice.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested that the interview was conducted in line with the efforts of pro-Israeli lobbyists, who strive to advance Tel Aviv’s political agenda in US politics and give a good welcoming to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, who is slated to hold White House talks later today, is expected to lobby US echelons to support a military action on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Senior Israeli political, military and intelligence figures have relentlessly threatened to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure out of existence, but the prospect of go-it-alone Israeli air strikes has significantly risen since Netanyahu took up the baton in Tel Aviv.

Qashqavi said Washington’s blind support and preferential treatment of Tel Aviv has come at the expense of American interests.