Israel yesterday attempted to play down a warning from a senior government minister that an attack on Iran was "unavoidable" if Tehran continued to develop nuclear weapons. Israel's deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, said Mofaz, a former defence minister and a contender to replace the scandal-battered Olmert, had turned "one of the most strategic security issues into a political game, using it for the internal purposes of a would-be campaign in Kadima".