Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce the date of national elections in Israel at his Likud party's meeting next Sunday, local media outlets reported Wednesday, citing party officials.

On Monday, Netanyahu announced his decision to call early elections either on Aug. 24 or Sept. 4, over a bill advocating mandatory military or national service for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the rightist Yisrael Beiteinu party and is Netanyahu's senior coalition partner, is behind the so-called "Service for All Law" that is scheduled to come up for a parliament vote on May 9.

If the bill passes, it will replace the controversial Tal Law, which for years has exempted religious students from mandatory military service and sparked the ire of secular Israelis. The Supreme Court declared this law unconstitutional in February and ordered its expiration in August, forcing the government to seek alternative solutions.

Lieberman has vowed to quit the government in the event that his bill falls. The ultra-religious Shas party, another vital coalition partner, has strongly hinted that it will bolt if the bill passes.

While Netanyahu seems to be siding with Lieberman, he has reportedly grown frustrated with what one minister has described as "blackmail attempts" by his coalition partners over the issue, ultimately deciding to call early elections, which were officially scheduled for late 2013.

Associates of Netanyahu have said that the move also stemmed from recent optimistic poll numbers that have Likud leading opponents by a wide margin. Another reason for the rush may be to prevent new rivals, like former newsman Yair Lapid, from striking electoral roots in some of Likud's secular, middle-class demographic sectors.

In related news, Vice Premier and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon said Tuesday that the coming elections will have no bearing on the current government's policy on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

"The elections won't carry any weight regarding the Iranian issue. If decisions have to be made, we'll make them, regardless and beyond all political considerations," Ya'alon told the Ma'ariv daily.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak implied that the elections will neither influence a decision to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities nor its timing.

"The executive branch continues to function as usual during elections ... We're dealing with (the Iranian) issue with the utmost seriousness, and every action must be weighed accordingly," Barak said in a message posted on his Facebook page.

But some local political observers estimate that Iran's presumed efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon will highlight the coming election campaign, with Netanyahu and Barak playing on their rivals' noticeable lack of military experience -- considered critical in a country that has fought seven wars in the past six decades.

Shaul Mofaz, the newly elected leader of the Kadima opposition party and chairman of parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, has accused Netanyahu of exploiting the ongoing debate on Iran for political gain, mainly to divert public attention away from social issues.

"Opponents of Netanyahu and Barak will attempt to accuse them of being capable of attacking Iran for impractical considerations, but Netanyahu would be committing (political) suicide if he were to order a military strike when polls forecast 30 seats in parliament for Likud," a senior Likud official told Ma'ariv.

"We are not in 1981 and (Menachem) Begin is not in power," the official noted, referring to the late Israeli premier who approved an airstrike in June that year on Iraq's nuclear reactor. Begin won a second term in office in elections that were held three weeks later.