Is Israel preparing for a new war with Iran?

Is Israel preparing for a new war with Iran?

RT

At a recent closed-door session of Israel’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defense, senior IDF officials delivered a detailed briefing on the country’s readiness for a potential new round of conflict with Iran. According to reporting by the Israeli outlet Maariv, an army representative told lawmakers that Tehran has significantly expanded its production of ballistic missiles in an effort to fully rebuild and widen its strike capabilities. Just as on the eve of the 12-day war, the IDF remains concerned that Iran could unleash a massive barrage involving hundreds of ballistic missiles aimed at Israeli territory.

Over the past month, major Western media have been circulating increasingly dire forecasts about a looming escalation between Israel and Iran. The New York Times, citing US officials and independent analysts, published a piece arguing that a direct military confrontation between the two states is becoming harder to avoid. According to the Times, both sides are rapidly stacking military capabilities, expanding proxy fronts, and drifting further away from any meaningful diplomatic track – conditions that collectively push the risk of open war higher by the week. The paper links the current tensions to the expiration of the 2015 nuclear accord, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which formally ceased to exist this October. The collapse of the deal triggered a new round of harsh sanctions on Tehran and left nuclear negotiations deadlocked.

The Times also reports that while Tehran insists it has destroyed all stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, Israeli officials remain convinced that portions of the material were quietly moved to secure locations. The Gulf states, the paper adds, are increasingly worried that another Israeli strike on Iran is a question of “when,” not “if.” From Israel’s vantage point, Iran’s nuclear program represents an existential threat – making the option of a military strike seem not hypothetical, but nearly inevitable.

Meanwhile, Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said that according to his Iranian sources, missile factories in Iran are operating 24 hours a day and in case of another conflict “hope to fire 2,000 [missiles] at once to overwhelm Israeli defenses, not 500 over 12 days” as they did in June.

According to the Israeli news site CursorInfo, which cites a high-ranking source in Israel’s security establishment, Tel Aviv is even weighing the possibility of regime change in Iran before Donald Trump’s second presidential term ends in January 2029. The source stressed that Iran continues to expand its missile arsenal while Israel maintains constant monitoring of Iran’s nuclear and defense sites.

Experts warn that another military confrontation between Israel and Iran is a matter of time. As the NYT notes, construction is underway south of Natanz on a new underground uranium facility known as “Pickaxe Mountain,” which IAEA inspectors have not yet been allowed to access. Satellite images show the aftermath of US airstrikes on Natanz targets carried out in June 2025 – evidence of ongoing efforts to degrade Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian insists Tehran seeks peace and dialogue but will not bow to external pressure or abandon its nuclear and missile programs, which it views as inseparable from national sovereignty. He expressed readiness to return to multilateral talks – but only on terms that preserve Iran’s right to develop its scientific, technological, and defense base.

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