A senior Israeli official has called for Israel to take decisive action to topple the Iranian regime before the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term in January 2029, according to remarks broadcast Monday by Israel’s public broadcaster KAN News.

According to the KAN report, Israeli intelligence is closely tracking Iran’s efforts to rebuild and expand its stockpile of advanced missiles following a series of U.S. and Israeli strikes earlier this year. “Iran is seeking to reproduce its long-range missile capability,” a senior security source said. “We are watching very closely.”

The New York Times, citing regional officials and analysts on Sunday, described a new war between Israel and Iran as “only a matter of time.” Tensions have surged since the revelation of Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain enrichment site, located roughly one kilometer south of the heavily fortified Natanz facility — a complex where Israeli airstrikes in June left visible craters later covered by soil, according to satellite images.

Despite Tehran’s insistence that it remains a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Western officials say Iran continues to obstruct access to critical nuclear sites. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed last week that while its inspectors visited certain facilities — including the Tehran Research Reactor — Iran still denies entry to high-profile locations such as Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, all previously targeted by U.S. bombings.

“We have carried out numerous inspections,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday, claiming Iran was meeting its NPT obligations. But the IAEA said Tehran must “seriously improve” cooperation if it wishes to avoid further diplomatic isolation.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a defiant tone last Friday, vowing that Tehran would not be bullied into dismantling its nuclear and missile programs. “We seek peace, but we will not bow to coercion,” he said in remarks carried by state media.

Pezeshkian reiterated that Iran remains open to talks “under international frameworks” but rejected any demand that the nation abandon what he called its right to “nuclear science” and self-defense.

The embattled president also faces mounting domestic pressure, warning that Iran may be forced to relocate its capital from drought-stricken Tehran to the southern Hormozgan province if water shortages worsen.

At the White House on Thursday, President Donald Trump revealed that Iran has “been asking if the sanctions could be lifted,” suggesting that quiet diplomatic overtures are underway despite the escalating rhetoric.

“Iran has got very heavy U.S. sanctions, and it makes it really hard for them to do what they’d like to be able to do,” Trump told reporters. “I’m open to hearing that, and we’ll see what happens, but I would be open to it.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)