Israel has long warned it is prepared to carry out a military strike to halt what it and many in the West believe are Iran's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. But in the face of fresh revelations of a clandestine Iranian nuclear project, coupled with new missile tests, Israel has been largely silent.

Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, suspects Iran of trying to build atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge which Tehran denies.

Analysts say that even though Israel remains deeply sceptical about the chances of success through diplomacy, it is willing to give US President Barak Obama time to prevent Iran acquiring the atom bomb.

"Israel is giving Obama a chance, they will wait until the end of 2009 and then reassess the situation," said Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University.

That means Israel scaling back its rhetoric ahead of Thursday's meeting in Geneva, where EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana is heading the talks -- aimed at securing guarantees from Iran that its nuclear plans are peaceful -- along with senior officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

In part that is a result of a feeling in Israel that international momentum is building to stop Iran.

"There is a growing awareness in Washington, I believe in European capitals and elsewhere, that the development or acquisition by Iran of nuclear weapons is something that endangers world peace," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in television interviews last week.

International concerns were heightened after revelations last week of a second, secret Iranian uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom.

Tehran is already under three sets of UN sanctions over its repeated refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment activities, which Western powers fear are aimed at building a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the charge.

Some believe that the Qom discovery is another reason Israel has scaled back its threats, making it less likely that Israel will attack Iran.

"Perhaps other sites have yet to be revealed, sites that serve as back-up installations for those that will be bombed," wrote Aluf Ben, a defence analyst with the Haaretz daily.

"And who would dare attack a city considered one of the holiest in Shia Islam and risk a furious religious uprising throughout the region," he wrote.

Still, Israel is pessimistic the talks will succeed or lead to the kind of crippling sanctions Israel wants to see.

"This is a waste of time," said Silvan Shalom, Israel's vice-premier, speaking Thursday as the meeting was to begin. "The Iranians will never abandon their plan to become a nuclear power."

Shalom also said trying to get UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran was also futile as China and Russia, which have deep ties with Iran, would likely never support such a move.

Instead, he said, the West and Japan should impose biting sanctions.

Nevertheless, analysts said Israel could not count on sanctions alone.

"I think that in their hearts Israeli leaders know sanctions wont work and only a military strike will be effective," said Inbar.

And Israel has not entirely dropped its threats, quietly reminding the world powers of the consequences of failure.

"Israel is not taking any options off the table," Defence Minister Ehud Barak told his British counterpart Bob Ainsworth on Tuesday, according to a statement from his office." Israel means what it says, and would recommend that other countries act the same."

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