US President Barack Obama warned a premature attack on Iran would allow it to play the "victim" in the nuclear crisis, in remarks published Friday days before he meets the Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

US President Barack Obama warned a premature attack on Iran would allow it to play the "victim" in the nuclear crisis, in remarks published Friday days before he meets the Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

In some of his toughest comments yet on Tehran's nuclear drive, Obama also warned the Zionist entity and Iran should take seriously possible US action against Iranian civilian nuclear facilities if sanctions fail to stop the country's peaceful ambitions.

"I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff," Obama told the Atlantic Monthly magazine.

"I also don't, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say."

Netanyahu arrived in Canada early Friday ahead of discussions Monday with Obama at the White House, and said this week Iran's nuclear program will be "at the center of our talks."

Netanyahu's government has maintained that all options remain on the table with regard to action on Iran, but Obama issued a blunt warning against a premature strike.