JERUSALEM — Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, plans to travel to Europe before the end of the year, among other things to press for a toughening of sanctions against Tehran, Israeli officials said Tuesday. The plans appeared to be another indication of a shifting Israeli emphasis, at least for now, toward efforts to stop the Iranian nuclear program by means other than military action.

Mr. Netanyahu told the United Nations General Assembly last week that a “red line” must be drawn capping Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, asserting that the country might reach an irreversible point in its drive for a nuclear weapon by next spring or summer.

Mr. Netanyahu said that while American-led international sanctions have so far not succeeded in stopping Iran’s nuclear program, he believed that “faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down. This will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to convince Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons program altogether.”

The Israeli leader’s speech appeared to suggest that the deadline for any military strike had been pushed off to mid-2013, well past the American presidential election, smoothing over a main point of contention between the Israelis and the Obama administration.