An Israeli official says Tel Aviv has been warned against waging war on Iran in the twilight days of the George W. Bush presidency.

The US warning against the launch of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear installations was reportedly relayed to Israeli officials by their senior US counterparts at a time that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in Washington to discuss Iran.

"We have been warned off," an Israeli Defense Ministry official told TIME.

The recent rejection is expected to be confirmed at Olmert's upcoming valedictory meeting in Washington with President Bush.

The revelation comes months after a report by The Guardian confirmed that Olmert sought a green light to launch air strikes against Iran in his previous visit to the United States -- on May 14. An outgoing Bush, however, had reportedly rejected the May request.

Israel had earlier suggested that should a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities become inevitable, Tel Aviv would do it before President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

Earlier in November, an unnamed senior European Union diplomat said that the bloc is concerned that "a possible Israeli strike against Iran is not completely off the radar".

The EU official suggested that the perfect time for Israel to strike Iranian nuclear installations "is between now and January 20" -- when Obama takes office.

The US "call for restraint" followed the Sunday leaking of a security assessment drawn up by Israeli military chiefs that calls for the preparation of contingency plans for an attack on Iran.

The intelligence assessment indicated that Israel has a "limited" window of opportunity to act against Iran, raising fears that an Obama administration might lead up to the restoration of Washington-Tehran relations.

Israel alleges that Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has plans "to build a nuclear weapon." Under the allegation, Israeli officials have long argued that the use of military force is a legitimate option in retarding the country's nuclear progress.

Since the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report dimmed the likelihood of Washington taking military action against Iran over the country's nuclear activities, Israelis have been quietly urging the White House to militarily confront Tehran.

Iran insists that its nuclear activities are solely directed at the civilian applications of the technology, adding that under the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is entitled to uranium enrichment.

This is while the UN body responsible for investigating Iran's nuclear activities confirmed in its latest report that it has "been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran."

CS/AA