US to ramp up pressure on Iran to avoid war: Report

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama's administration is undertaking "a range of steps short of war" that it hopes will prevent an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The measures are designed to force Teheran to negotiate more seriously over its nuclear programme and offer Israeli officials a credible alternative to a military strike on the Islamic state, the paper said.

"The Obama administration is moving ahead with a range of steps short of war that it hopes will forestall an Israeli attack, while forcing the Iranians to take more seriously negotiations that are all but stalemated," it said.

Citing unnamed military officials, the paper said the United States and more than 25 other countries will this month hold the largest-ever mine-sweeping exercise in the Gulf in what is seen as a bid to prevent Iran from trying to block oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.