Israel has accused Iran of lying to the world about its nuclear weapons programme both before and since the 2015 nuclear deal after Israeli intelligence stole 100,000 files from a secret “atomic archive” in Tehran.

Benjamin Netanyahu, an arch-opponent of the nuclear deal, made the dramatic public accusation in Tel Aviv less than two weeks before Donald Trump is due to announce whether he is pulling the US out of the agreement.

The Israeli prime minister said that Israeli spies had obtained “half a tonne” of secret documents which show that Iran’s leaders never gave a full account of their past nuclear activities as required by the Iran deal and were maintaining the knowhow to build a bomb in the future.

“The nuclear deal is based on lies. It is based on Iranian lies and Iranian deception,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“This is a terrible deal which should never have been concluded and in a few days’ time President Trump will make his decision on what to do with the nuclear deal. I’m sure he will do the right thing. The right thing for the US, the right thing for Israel, and the right thing for the peace of the world.”