Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he was using all available means to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, on the eve of his address to the UN General Assembly.

"As the prime minister of Israel, the state of the Jewish people, I am working in every way so that Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said in a statement released just before he left to address world leaders assembled at the United Nations in New York.

"Israel is a modern and strong state thanks to the strength and talents of its citizens and to our faith in the justice of our cause," he added.

Netanyahu is due to address the General Assembly on Thursday -- the day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who criticised a "continued threat by the uncivilised Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation".

There has been mounting speculation that Israel could launch a military strike against Iran's bunkered nuclear facilities.

The Iranian government faces mounting international pressure over its nuclear programme, which Western powers say hides a bid to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says the programme is for civilian power generation.