Netanyahu says Iran nuclear deal 'based on a lie'

Jerusalem [Israel], May 7 (ANI): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called the Iran nuclear deal as 'based on a lie', thereby continuing to support the United States to withdraw from the deal.

"If you do nothing to this deal, if you keep it as is, you will end up with Iran with a nuclear arsenal in a very short time," Netanyahu said, The Hill reported.

In a presentation session last month, Netanyahu asserted that Tehran "lied and did not respect the deal," adding it was continuing with the nuclear weapons programme after 2009, according to CNN.

He further said that those who argued about his presentation "did not see the material."

This comes ahead of US President Donald Trump's May 12 deadline for European allies to agree to address the "flaws" in the Iran deal.

Last week, Netanyahu claimed that the Iran nuclear deal was "based on lies" and that Iranian officials were "brazenly lying" when they said Iran wasn't pursuing nuclear weapons.

He also said Israel has 100,000 "secret files that prove" that Iran lied.

Netanyahu added that thousands of pages of material have been obtained by Israel which showed Iran had deceived the world by denying it had ever sought nuclear weapons.

President Trump lambasted the nuclear agreement reached with Iran in July 2015 as the "worst deal ever" and has often threatened to terminate it.

The Iran nuclear deal was signed between six countries in 2015 - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country's nuclear programme. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI