In an interview with Politico, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said Iran had enriched enough uranium to build a "couple of bombs" and that time was running out.

"I think that in order to stop a nuclear Iranian program before it will be weaponised, a reliable military option should be on the table," he said, in the article published on Wednesday.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei described the remarks as "outrageous and irrational."

"The Israeli regime's FM and other officials keep threatening Iran with military action while the West continues to blame Iran for its defence capability," he said in a post on X.

Baqaei added that in a "region scourged by an occupying entity," referring to Israel, "it is only responsible and essential to maximise our defence capabilities."

Earlier this month, alongside visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would "finish the job" against Iran with the support of the United States.

Iran does not recognise Israel and the two countries have been sworn enemies for decades.

They traded direct attacks last year for the first time against the backdrop of soaring regional tensions triggered by the Gaza war.

US President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House for a second term in January, has reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy of sanctions against Iran, mirroring his approach during his first term.

Under this policy, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, accusing Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons, an allegation that Tehran has consistently denied.

Tehran adhered to the 2015 deal for a year after Washington's withdrawal, but then began rolling back its commitments.

Efforts to revive the pact have since faltered.

According to a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) repost seen by AFP on Wednesday, Iran has significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in recent months.

Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons.

Trump has recently called for striking a deal with Iran, but Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later said "no problem will be solved by negotiating with America".