LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Chairman of the U.S. Joints Chiefs of Staff Committee Martin Dempsey and British Foreign Minister William Hague say that an Israeli attack on Iran would destabilize the entire region. Both urged Israel to give international sanctions against Tehran more time to work.

Dempsey said an Israeli attack would be "not prudent" and Hague said it would not be "a wise thing."

Dempsey said in a television interview that Israel has the capability to strike Iran and delay the Iranians "probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach."

Dempsey also expressed concern that an Israeli attack could spark reprisals against US targets in the Gulf or Afghanistan, where American forces are based. "That's the question with which we all wrestle. And the reason that we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack Iran," Dempsey said.

Iran, Dempsey says, is a "rational actor." He also said that he believed that the international sanctions on Iran are beginning to have an effect. "For that reason, I think, that we think the current path we're on is the most prudent path at this point."

White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon met with Israeli Prime Ainister Binyamin Netanyahu, although there was no confirmation from either government on whether or not that meeting took place.

Donilon is due to meet Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister this week.

Speaking to the BBC, British Foreign Minister Hague said the U.K.'s approach was focused on sanctions and diplomatic means.

"I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran," he said. "I think Israel like everyone else in the world should be giving a real chance to the approach we have adopted on very serious economic sanctions and economic pressure and the readiness to negotiate with Iran."

Iranian warships crossed the Suez Canal and docked in Syria's port of Tartous this weekend.

The Mehr news agency said on Sunday that Tehran's show of support has caused "extreme worry for Zionist forces."

"Iran has been having a few standoffs with the West in general over its nuclear program and over its oil embargo," Youcef Bouandel, professor of international affairs at Qatar University says, who added that the docking of the ships on the Syrian coast had two largely symbolic meanings.

"Iran has been threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz and has been a strong ally of Syria over the last year in particular ... The two ships ... crossed the Suez Canal without being stopped or searched [which] suggests that they do not carry any weapons," he said.

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