Iran security chief rejects moving enriched uranium abroad, as Netanyahu vows to topple regime

Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei told visiting Pakistani army chief Asim Munir on Tuesday that Tehran will not allow nuclear material to leave the country, according to state TV, and delivered the message that there would be no talks with Washington until its demands were met.

The statements underscored Iran’s hardening stance nearly eight months into the war. They came a day after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Israel for an unannounced meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Israel has largely stayed out of the fighting since April. US President Donald Trump, however, has signaled a willingness to resume hostilities following the US midterm elections on November 3. Israel holds its own election a week earlier, on October 27.

On Tuesday, the United States and Israel issued their own bellicose statements. Netanyahu again vowed to topple the Iranian regime, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of using “Nazi” tactics in the Strait of Hormuz by targeting commercial shipping.

Pakistan is a key intermediary trying to reduce tensions and reach an agreement between the US and Iran. Earlier mediation efforts helped produce an interim peace agreement ​in ⁠June, but the Islamabad Memorandum quickly unravelled as fighting between Iran and the US resumed weeks after.

Negotiations between the US and Iran have largely stalled since, but at their heart is a dispute over the future of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran maintains that the program is peaceful but has enriched uranium far beyond any civilian use, blocked inspectors and built a ballistic missile program.

The US seeks the nuclear program’s dismantlement. US Vice President JD Vance said ​earlier this month that Iran must make a “meaningful” reduction ​in ⁠its uranium enrichment capacity to satisfy US demands. But Iran has rebuffed those demands, as it did on Tuesday.

“Not even a tiny bit of enriched nuclear material will leave Iran. Such materials constitute a major asset and national wealth for the Iranian people, intended for use within the country,” said Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to state TV.

“There will be no negotiations until America takes steps to build trust — a process that must begin with the fulfillment of Iran’s conditions.”

In addition, President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed mediation efforts and regional developments with Munir in Tehran, according to Nournews.

Munir also met Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who said Washington could not regain Tehran’s trust until it fulfilled seven conditions Iran set last month for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the key pathway for oil and gas that the Islamic Republic has blocked since the beginning of the war, according to an Iranian readout of the meeting.

The demands include ending a US blockade on its ports that was launched in response to the strait’s obstruction. They also include the ‌lifting of sanctions on its oil exports and ending hostilities on all regional fronts, a term referring to conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Rubio accuses Iran of using ‘Nazi’ tactics in Strait of Hormuz

Rubio on Tuesday said Iran was using Nazi tactics in the Strait of Hormuz by targeting commercial shipping, which he called a throwback to World War II.

In an interview with the Indian outlet News1, Rubio said that people should pay more attention to what Iran is doing and trying to do to close the strait.

“We have a nation-state that is openly saying, ‘We are targeting commercial vessels; we are trying to kill sailors who have nothing to do with the war; we are trying to sink commercial ships,’” Rubio said. “You haven’t seen that since the Second World War. They are doing Nazi U-boat tactics. And that’s what the world should be rallying around and condemning.”

By contrast, he said that US forces in the region are defending commercial shipping and the vast majority of attempted Iranian attacks have been thwarted. Three boats encountered obstruction or mines in the strait on Tuesday.

PM: Israel is ‘committed’ to ending ‘terrorist regime in Iran’

On Monday, Netanyahu met with Hegseth, a meeting that was initially secret but that Hegseth and other later confirmed. Neither Hegseth nor Trump would divulge the content of the meeting.

“I was there visiting our troops, [and] had a chance to talk to the prime minister. Of course, the nature of our conversation is not something I would talk about, but they’ve been good partners, and I appreciate that,” Hegseth told reporters on Tuesday.

Netanyahu, for his part, said Israel is “committed” to bringing down the Iranian regime, which he claimed would in turn lead to the toppling of Hezbollah.

Speaking at the opening of the academic year at the new Tel Hai University in Kiryat Shmona, next to the Lebanon border, Netanyahu said that while the IDF has made major progress in pushing back Hezbollah, “I am committed to finishing the job.”

“Finishing the job means bringing down the terrorist regime in Iran. It is the head of this poisonous octopus. You cut it off, and it will fall. We will also have peace with Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.

“We must complete the elimination of the Iranian regime — that is the primary objective,” the prime minister added. “I have spoken about this with President Trump more than once, including the day before yesterday.”

Netanyahu said that as long as the Iranian regime remains in power, “even if it is battered, wounded and beaten, it is so fanatical that it will try again to do what it did a year ago, and which we stopped them from doing: producing nuclear bombs and rebuilding the ‘axis.'”

He continued, “Therefore, the only way to prevent this is to bring down this regime, and then the elimination of Hezbollah will follow.”

Israeli fighter jets said to fly toward Iran as part of drill

Israeli fighter jets flew toward Iran overnight as part of a drill, Fox News reported on Tuesday, without citing any sources.

The network’s chief foreign correspondent, Trey Yingst, said, “Overnight, the Israelis conducted drills, sending fighter jets toward Iran, over Syria and Iraq.” No other details were provided by Fox.

"A job to finish."

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are discussing the possibility of renewed strikes against Iran, with Netanyahu telling Trump they will "finish it together."

According to Axios, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a surprise visit… pic.twitter.com/XOoShvpKVh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 20, 2026

Unconfirmed posts on social media Monday night claimed that several fighter jets, possibly Israeli, were heard over the border between Iraq and Iran.