EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranian soldiers march in formation during the Army Day military parade in Tehran April 18, 2011. 
 
 DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran makes no distinction between U.S. and Israeli interests and will retaliate against both countries if attacked, an Iranian military commander said on Wednesday. 
 
 The comments came after the White House denied an Israeli news report that it was negotiating with Tehran to keep out of a future Israel-Iran war and as U.S. President Barack Obama fends off accusations from his election rival that he is too soft on Tehran. 
 
 "The Zionist regime separated from America has no meaning, and we must not recognize Israel as separate from America," Ali Fadavi, naval commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. 
 
 "On this basis, today only the Americans have taken a threatening stance towards the Islamic Republic," Fadavi said. "If the Americans commit the smallest folly they will not leave the region safely." 
 
 Iran - which has missiles that could reach Israel and U.S. targets in the region - has conducted military exercises and unveiled upgraded weapons in recent months, aiming to show it can defend itself against any strike against its nuclear sites. 
 
 Israel - thought to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons - says the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran would pose a threat to its existence. Tehran denies it is developing weapons and says its nuclear program is peaceful. 
 
 With the approach of U.S. elections in November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a tougher stance against Iran - implicitly knocking Obama's emphasis on diplomatic and sanctions pressure to halt Iranian nuclear work. 
 
 While Israel would expect U.S. backing if it decided to strike Iran, the top U.S. general has suggested Washington would not be drawn into a conflict. 
 
 "I don't want to be complicit if they choose to do it," Britain's Guardian newspaper quoted Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey as saying. 
 
 Netanyahu abruptly ended a meeting of Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday, saying someone in the forum had leaked details of its discussions on Iran. 
 
 Any decision to go to war against Iran would, by Israeli law, require the approval of the security cabinet. One government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no such decisions had been on the table at Tuesday's meeting. 
 
 (Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) ||||| "We share the challenge though our timetables are not the same," the defense minister says at a pre-Rosh Hashana political even. 
 
 Ehud Barak with US Adm. James A. Winnefeld Photo: Alon Bason/Defense Ministry 
 
 Defense Minister Ehud Barak appeared to hint on Thursday night that he believed the United States would join Israel in a strike on Iran to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons. 
 
 Speaking at a pre-Rosh Hashana toast for activists of his Independence Party at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, Barak noted the meeting that he had earlier in the day with Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and said they dealt with all the developments in the region, but especially Iran. 
 
 “The State of Israel will make its decision about its future and its security alone, but the United States is our most important partner,” Barak said at the toast. 
 
 “[America’s] cooperation, intelligence-sharing and military support for Israel is extraordinary in its depth and its comprehensiveness, and I’m convinced that it will continue to be that way in every future test,” he said. 
 
 Barak, who received an update from Winnefeld on America’s preparedness for dealing with the issues in the region, praised the steps that America had taken to deal with a possible confrontation with Iran. 
 
 “We share the challenge, though our timetables are not the same and we have our differences,” the defense minister said. 
 
 “Israel maintains for itself the right to make decisions about its sovereignty and the United States respects that, but we cannot mistake the impressive depth of American preparedness to handle the threat [of Iran] from every standpoint,” he said. 
 
 Barak said that thanks to American generosity, Israel had been able to improve its situation defensively, noting advances in the Iron Dome, Magic Wand and Arrow antimissile systems. 
 
 He said the systems increased Israel’s flexibility and freedom to act. 
 
 Winnefeld smiled broadly, exchanging pleasantries with Barak in his office at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv in a brief video released by the Defense Ministry. 
 
 The visit comes after Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, dismayed Israeli officials by saying that Washington did not want to be “complicit” in an Israeli strike on Iran. 
 
 Dempsey’s comments were seen as a rebuke to Israel’s stepping up threats of carrying out a unilateral strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities before the US presidential election on November 6. 
 
 Washington has urged Israel to hold off in order to give economic sanctions and diplomacy more time to curb Iran’s uranium enrichment. 
 
 US Ambassador Shapiro said that the visit "was part of the regular coordination between the US and Israeli militaries on the common challenges we face in the region," in a post on his Facebook page Thursday. He added that the visit aimed at strengthening defense cooperation. 
 
 Army Radio reported that the visit began several days ago and included an inspection of Israel’s Iron Dome rocket-defense system, which is jointly funded with the United States. 
 
 In its press release, the Defense Ministry also included photographs of Winnefeld and Barak appearing to measure, with their thumbs and index fingers, the size of Israel on a map of the Middle East on a wall in Barak’s office. 
 
 Since Dempsey’s comments, Israeli officials have been careful to be complimentary of the United States and its support for Israel. Before Barak’s comments on Thursday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman praised US President Barack Obama’s foreign policies, saying that “to the credit of the United States, it is the only country that stood by our side in our struggles at the United Nations, the Security Council and UNESCO.” 
 
 “The US increased funding for the Iron Dome. Even if we disagree sometimes and even if there is commentary that suggests otherwise, we must say that we have no better friend than the US,” the foreign minister continued. 
 
 Liberman hinted at support for a possible Israeli strike on Iran when he said that Yisrael Beytenu’s presence in the coalition made the government “more serious and determined to defend the interests of Israel.” 
 
 Reuters contributed to this report.
– The US and Israel are in it together when it comes to Iran—whether the US likes it or not. Iran said today that it saw no difference between Israel and the United States, and that an attack by either would result in retaliation against both, Reuters reports. " We must not recognize Israel as separate from America ," a Revolutionary Guard commander told Iran's state-run news service. "If the Americans commit the smallest folly they will not leave the region safely." The comments come in the wake of an Israeli media report that the White House was negotiating with Iran to ensure it wasn't sucked into an Iran-Israel war. The White House denied the report, though US military officials have openly talked about their reluctance to back an Israeli attack. "I don't want to be complicit if they choose to do it," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey recently told the Guardian.