Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago re-established working groups, made up of members of Israel's defense establishment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the intelligence community, to focus on Iran's nuclear program, three senior Israeli officials told Axios, the latter reports.

Two former Israeli officials briefed on the situation said the Iranian nuclear issue hasn't been dealt with seriously by Netanyahu since he return to office in December 2022.

At first, it was due to his preoccupation with the judicial overhaul he was pushing and later because of the war in Gaza.

Senior Israeli officials said Netanyahu's directive to national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to re-establish the teams came after a period of about a year and a half during which the working groups were frozen.

One team led by the Mossad deals with the issue of the Iranian nuclear program and in particular the issue of possible weaponization activities.

Another team led by the Shin Bet is responsible for Iranian influence operations within the Israeli society, which have been increasing over the last year, an Israeli official said.

Other teams deal with intelligence and cyber coordination and with Iranian activity in the region with Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and the militias in Iraq and Syria.

Israel and the US are concerned Iran will try to advance its nuclear technology, including weaponization efforts, in the weeks leading to the US presidential elections, according to two Israeli and two US officials.

The officials also said there is concern Iranian leaders might try to use the post-election transition period in the US to "break" towards a nuclear weapon.

One US official said the US intelligence community still thinks Iran is not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, but it has taken provocative nuclear steps "that will not go unchallenged."