The Bethlehem-based news agency Ma’an has cited a Kuwaiti newspaper report Saturday that US President Barack Obama thwarted an Israeli military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities in 2014 by threatening to shoot down Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran, Israel national news reports.

Following Obama's threat, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was reportedly forced to abort the planned Iran attack.

According to Al-Jarida, the Netanyahu government took the decision to strike Iran some time in 2014 soon after Israel had discovered the United States and Iran had been involved in secret talks over Iran’s nuclear program and were about to sign an agreement in that regard behind Israel's back.

The report claimed that an unnamed Israeli minister who has good ties with the US administration revealed the attack plan to Secretary of State John Kerry, and that Obama then threatened to shoot down the Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.

A picture released by the Israeli Air Forces shows one of two US-made F-16I fighter jets refuels during flight on its way to Israel in an undisclosed location 19 February 2004.

Al-Jarida quoted "well-placed" sources as saying that Netanyahu, along with Moshe Yaalon, and then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, had decided to carry out airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program after consultations with top security commanders.

According to the report, “Netanyahu and his commanders agreed after four nights of deliberations to task the Israeli army's chief of staff, Benny Gantz, to prepare a qualitative operation against Iran's nuclear program.

In addition, Netanyahu and his ministers decided to do whatever they could do to thwart a possible agreement between Iran and the White House because such an agreement is, allegedly, a threat to Israel's security.”

The sources added that Gantz and his commanders prepared the requested plan and that Israeli fighter jets trained for several weeks in order to make sure the plans would work successfully. Israeli fighter jets reportedly even carried out experimental flights in Iran's airspace after they managed to break through radars.

Brzezinski's idea

Former US diplomat Zbigniew Brzezinski, who enthusiastically campaigned for Obama in 2008, called on him to shoot down Israeli planes if they attack Iran. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?” said the former national security advisor to former President Jimmy Carter in an interview with the Daily Beast.

“We have to be serious about denying them that right,” he said. “If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a 'Liberty' in reverse.’"

Brzezinski was a top candidate to become an official advisor to President Obama, but he was downgraded after Republican and pro-Israel Democratic charges during the campaign that Brzezinski’s anti-Israel attitude would damage Obama at the polls.

AL-ALAM cant assures audience about accuracy of above article.

This report when publish that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Monday that his plans to address Congress are not aimed at disrespecting President Barack Obama, even as he assailed the U.S. leader's bid for a nuclear deal with Iran as a threat to Israel’s  survival.

"I have a moral obligation to speak up in the face of these dangers while there is still time to avert them," Netanyahu said during an address to a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington.

Netanyahu addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference inb Washington, DC, on March 2, 2015

While Obama and Netanyahu have never had a warm personal relationship, the prime minister's visit to Washington this week has exposed the depth of their tensions, North Jerthy reports.

At the heart of this latest flare-up is Netanyahu's decision to address a joint meeting of Congress, a Tuesday event during which he is sure to criticize the nuclear talks. The speech was arranged by Republican leaders without the Obama administration's knowledge, a move the White House blasted as a breach of diplomatic protocol.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his planned address Tuesday to the US Congress on Iran's nuclear programme is not intended as a sign of disrespect to US President Barack Obama.

The speech on Tuesday is controversial because Boehner invited Netanyahu to appear at a time when international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program are at a critical juncture.

Netanyahu told a Jewish lobby group on Monday that his speech is not intended to inject Israel into American political debate, yet some Democrats plan to skip his address, HAARETZ reports.

Ahead of his controversial speech to the U.S. Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns Washington that the nuclear deal it is negotiating with Iran could threaten Israel's survival.

One survey found that 48 percent of registered voters disapprove of Republicans' invitation to Netanyahu to address Congress without notifying Obama. But Netanyahu is now seen positively by 30 percent of US voters, up from just 24 percent last August, according to a WSJ/NBC poll.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Monday that the relationship between US and Israel strengthened during Obama's presidency. "The relationship between the US and Israel has been strong for several reasons for many generations," he said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (C) as they prepare to take their seats for a new round of nuclear negotiations in Montreux, Switzerland on March 2, 2015.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned Israel's prime minister against publicly revealing details of an Iran nuclear deal that world powers are in the process of negotiating.

While he did not mention Benjamin Netanyahu by name, Kerry told reporters in Geneva he was "concerned by reports" that "selective details" of the deal aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear programme would be revealed in the coming days.

Kerry's comments come after an Israeli official said the Jewish state knew about the emerging agreement and that the prime minister would elaborate in upcoming address to US Congress.

Kerry is due to meet his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux later Monday for talks on the Iran agreement.