Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser said on Friday that Israel is not close to attacking Iran's nuclear sites.

Israel's main ally the United States has been holding talks with Iran in recent weeks in an attempt to outline steps that could limit Teheran's nuclear program and de-escalate tensions. Tzachi Hanegbi said it is still unclear what will come of those talks.

Hanegbi told Channel 13 television that no agreement could obligate Israel which views Iran's nuclear capability as an existential threat. Asking whether Israel had made a decision on a preemptive strike, Hanegbi replied:

"We are not getting closer because the Iranians have stopped, for a while now, they are not enriching uranium to the level that in our view is the red line."

"But it can happen. So we are preparing for the moment, if it comes, in which we will have to defend the people of Israel against a fanatic regime that is set on annihilating us and is armed with weapons of mass destruction."

Iran has ramped up enrichment to 60-percent purity since 2021, which is below the bomb-grade 90-percent level Netanyahu has set as a "red line".

Iran denies that it has nuclear weapons ambitions, which was the reason for the 2015 agreement that limited the country’s uranium enrichment.

As soon as Donald Trump ditched the nuclear deal in 2018, he reimposed crippling sanctions on the Iranian economy. Tehran responded by a gradual move beyond the deal's enrichment restrictions.