More pressure on Israel from the United States and Britain not to strike Iran

White House national security adviser Tom Donilon is in Jerusalem discussing the Iran situation

The U.S. and Britain leaned on Israel to hold off on attacking Iran as the White House’s national security adviser arrived in Jerusalem amid growing international fears of a new war.

Tehran added to the tension Sunday by cutting off crude oil exports to British and French companies.

The decision was largely symbolic — France bought only 3% of its oil from Iran last year, Britain no longer imports any Iranian oil and the European Union announced last month it would boycott Iranian oil starting July 1.

“Exporting crude to British and French companies has stopped. We will sell our oil to new customers,” Iranian Oil Ministry spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying on the ministry’s website.

The cutoff came just days after Iran threatened to retaliate for new sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe.

In Jerusalem, President Obama’s national security adviser, Tom Donilon, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the Iran situation. Neither made any comment after the two-hour meeting.

Donilon was also set to meet Monday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who would lead any potential attack.

The Obama administration — which is not convinced Iran has made the decision to turn its energy program to nuclear weapons — is urging Israel to give the new sanctions and the European oil boycott time to force Iran to comply with inspectors.

Israel, which fears for its existence if Iran gets a nuke, has made it clear that its patience is running out.

A strike could come this spring, experts warn.

In London and Washington, officials urged Israel to wait.

“A strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn’t achieve their long-term objectives,” the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, told CNN.

“I don’t think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran,” British Foreign William Hague told the BBC.

“I think Israel, like everyone else in the world, should be giving a real chance to the approach we adopted: very serious economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and the readiness to negotiate with Iran.”