In the wake of the Islamic Republic's missile test, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned Iran that Israel will not hesitate to resort to military action.

Terming Iran's action as "a challenge not only for Israel but for the entire world," Barak was quoted Thursday by Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth as saying that "Israel is the strongest country in the region, and it has proven in the past that it is not afraidto act when its vital interests are threatened."

In June, U.S. newspaper The New York Times reported that U.S. military believed Israel's a major military exercise in early June was a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear sites.

Some American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military's capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran's nuclear program.

However, some Iranian observers believed that Israel and the United States were only staging a psychological war in order to influence the decision-making of the Iranian government.

"At least during the past two months, the United States and Israel, despite their rhetorics, were not in a position to launch an attack on Iran," Iranian daily Ettela'at on Saturday quoted Mohammad Ali Mohtadi, an Iranian political commentator, as saying.

"The reason is that it has been proved that Iran is very serious in its intention of self-defense and of maintaining its rights," Mohtadi said. "There is no doubt that any offense on Iran will devour the entire Middle East as well as the global interests."

"Therefore, the probability of war is almost impossible," he said.