
Trump says he has been proven '100% right' following Israel's stunning claims that Iran is still running their nuclear program in secret in defiance of their agreement with the West.

Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu gave a televised address on Monday evening during which he presented documents obtained from inside Iran, proving they are still following their A-bomb ambitions under the radar.

He said: 'Iran's leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons,' said Netanyahu while standing in front of the documents, which senior Trump administration officials have said are authentic.

'Tonight I'm here to tell you one thing: Iran lied.'

Just minutes after the shocking announcement, Trump said: 'What's happening today, and what's happened over the last little while, and what we've learned, has really shown that I've been 100 per cent right.'

Later on Monday afternoon, Trump once more attacked the Iran deal as 'horrible'. He has until May 12 to decide whether to pull out of the accord.

'In seven years, that deal will have expired and Iran is free to go ahead and create nuclear weapons,' Trump told a joint press conference with his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari.

'That is not acceptable,' Trump charged. 'This is an agreement that wasn't approved by too many people. And it's a horrible agreement for the United States.'

The US president has been threatening for months to pull out of the 2015 deal negotiated between Tehran and six world powers, rejecting it as 'insane' partly because its restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities begin expiring in 2025.

Most world powers say the deal is working as intended for now and is the best way to keep Iran from acquiring the bomb.

'I'm not telling you what I'm doing, but a lot of people think they know,' Trump said. 'On or before the 12th, we'll make a decision.'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that his intelligence services have obtained documents proving that Iran maintained a secret nuclear program in violation of a landmark agreement Tehran reached with the West. Netanyahu points to a slide which is purported to show 'massive safes' where Iran's 'secret archive' were stored

In the slide above, Netanyahu is pointing to 'U235—that's enriched uranium, right here at the core. That's the only place where you find in the core enriched uranium. And here's an Iranian simulation, original Iranian simulation putting all these components together'

The premier accused the Islamic Republic of 'brazenly lying' to the United States and Europe by maintaining nuclear materials in a secret location - a violation of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said Israel recently uncovered 55,000 documents and 183 CDs of information from Iran's 'nuclear archives'

Netanyahu points to the above slide which he says proves Iran maintained a secret nuclear weapons program. The above object is a measuring device for implosions

The Israeli leader said that the 'atomic archive' where Iran kept its files was in the Shorabad District of the capital, Tehran

Netanyahu points to a slide that shows components of an alleged clandestine nuclear weapons program. 'Here's a design for a nuclear payload on a Shahab3 missile,' Netanyahu says, pointing to the missile above

The Israeli prime minister stands in front of dozens of binders filled with documents as well as hundreds of discs taken from the Iranians

Netanyahu has long argued that the nuclear deal has not prevented Iran from continuing to develop its program of long-range missiles capable of carrying an atomic warhead. 'They can reach Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Moscow, but they're working on far, far greater ranges,' Netanyahu said. 'They're planning much longer range missiles to carry nuclear weapons'

Netanyahu used a slide which he says confirmed that the covert program to develop nuclear weapons was authorized by Iran's defense minister in 2003

The Israeli leader says the documents include 'incriminating photos' that prove Iran is lying about its pursuit of a peaceful nuclear program. 'Here's a photo showing the casting process and a cast metal core, from the archives,' Netanyahu says of the above slide

Netanyahu stands before a slide showing equipment in an Iranian nuclear facility on the left and an 'original Iranian simulation' of a nuclear implosion on the right. The Israeli leader said the object on the left is a measuring device for implosions

The White House also said on Monday that information released by Israel on Iran's nuclear program provides 'new and compelling details' about Tehran's efforts to develop 'missile-deliverable nuclear weapons.'

'These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known: Iran has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people,' the White House statement said.

Iranian state TV said on Monday that Netanyahu's accusations on Tehran's nuclear program was propaganda.

'His remarks was not new...full of baseless accusations... and propaganda against Iran's nuclear work,' state TV said.

Numerous other experts claimed all the information contained in the documents had been seen before.

The British government, meanwhile, insisted it had 'never been naive about Iran and its nuclear intentions' in the wake of the presentation.

British government: 'We have never been naive about Iran' Britain has never been 'naive' about Iran's nuclear programme, a spokesman for the government has said in the wake of Benjamin Netanyahu's speech. The spokesman also said inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are vital to ensure Iran's nuclear programme is used for peaceful means. 'We have never been naive about Iran and its nuclear intentions. That is why the IAEA inspection regime agreed as part of the Iran nuclear deal is one of the most extensive and robust in the history of international nuclear accords,' a British government spokesman said in a statement. 'It remains a vitally important way of independently verifying that Iran is adhering to the deal and that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful.' Advertisement

Thousands of pages contained evidence that Tehran had a secret nuclear weapons program while insisting to the world its nuclear ambitions were purely peaceful, Netanyahu said.

While the lion's share of the briefing focused on what he said was past nuclear work and alleged obfuscation about it by Iran, Netanyahu asserted that such activities had continued after the deal that was meant to curb Iranian capabilities.

The premier accused the Islamic Republic of 'brazenly lying' to the United States and Europe by maintaining nuclear materials in a secret location - a violation of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Israel claims that it obtained the incriminating information within the past 10 days.

After the 2015 nuclear deal was signed, the documents were moved to a 'highly secret' location in Tehran, Netanyahu said.

While the lion's share of the briefing focused on what he said was past nuclear work and alleged obfuscation about it by Iran, Netanyahu asserted that such activities had continued after the 2015 deal that was meant to curb Iranian capabilities.

'These files conclusively prove that Iran is brazenly lying when it says it never had a nuclear weapons program,' he said.

Netanyahu said Israel recently uncovered 55,000 documents and 183 CDs of information from Iran's 'nuclear archives.'

Speaking in English, perhaps with an international audience in mind, he says the material is filled with incriminating evidence showing the Iranian program, called 'Project Amad,' was to develop a weapon.

Netanyahu's revelations were 'a big lot of nothing' according to David Patrikarakos, an Iranian nuclear politics expert.

He said the prime minister's comments 'are entirely political, designed to put pressure on – or given a excuse to – President Trump not to recertify the nuclear deal, which he is due to do in several days.

Critically Patrikarakos says that 'Netanyahu has presented little if any evidence that Iran is in breach of the deal, merely that 'past nuclear work' showed evidence of Iranian attempts at a nuclear weapons capability, which is true, and that Iran had been less than transparent in its nuclear dealings.

'All of this is well-known, what he has failed to show is that Iran is in violation of the nuclear deal signed it was signed in 2016.

'It may give Trump the excuse he needs, but it will not wash with the other parties to the deal namely France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China.'

Netanyahu wants the deal to fail because he has staked some much political capital on that outcome and wants the US and Iran at loggerheads as it helps Israel geopolitically, said Patrikarakos, author of Nuclear Iran: The Birth of an Atomic State, the first complete history of Iran's nuclear program from it's beginnings in the 1950s to the present day, and war in 140 Characters: How Social Media Is Reshaping Conflict in The 21st Century.

While Netanyahu presented the information as new, the details of Project Amad were known to Western governments well before the 2015 nuclear deal, according to The Atlantic.

In 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency published findings about Project Amad, which was shut down by the Iranians in 2003.

The French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud, tweeted that information about past Iranian nuclear activity was in fact an argument in favor of the nuclear deal, not against it.

Trump is to decide by May 12 whether to pull out of the international deal with Iran.

President Donald Trump used the revelations to insist that he's been proved '100 per cent right' about Iran, minutes after Benjamin Netanyahu gave a televised address on Monday evening during which he presented documents obtained from inside Iran

Federica Mogherini, the head of the European Union's foreign policy portfolio, said that it appears Netanyahu's presentation did not demonstrate that Iran was violating the nuclear deal.

'What I have seen from the first reports is that Prime Minister Netanyahu has not put into question Iran's compliance with the JCPOA commitments, meaning post-2015 nuclear commitments,' her office said in a statement.

'The JCPOA, the nuclear agreement, is not based on assumptions of good faith or trust - it is based on concrete commitments, verification mechanisms and a very strict monitoring of facts, done by the IAEA.

'The IAEA has published 10 reports, certifying that Iran has fully complied with its commitments.'

Faced with mounting pressure, Iran has threatened to resume 20 percent uranium enrichment if the US leaves the deal.

Before Netanyahu's speech, Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the Israeli leader was 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf [and is] at it again'

Raz Tzimmt, an expert on Israel-Iran relations, said it will be very difficult to persuade Iran to renegotiate.

'I think it will be very difficult if not impossible to persuade the Iranians to renegotiate the deal,' said Tzimmt.

'I mean the perception in Iran is that Iran has already given up some part of its capabilities during the negotiations with P5+1 and the United States.

'So I think it will be almost impossible to believe that under no circumstances, including more economic pressure on Iran, Iran, and especially Supreme Leader Khamenei, is going to agree for a better deal,' said Tzimmt.

Tzimmt said if Iran resumes its nuclear activity, Israel will possibly take action, with military options most likely on the table.

'In case Iran breaks out for nuclear weapons and quits the NPT and expels the IAEA inspectors from Iran, that would mean that Iran is not just after resuming its nuclear activity, but about its bomb.

'And then I think we could expect Israel to take more radical actions, including military options against Iran, because Israel has always made it very clear that it will not allow Iran to become a nuclear military state.'

Trump said Monday that stunning revelation from Israel about Iran's secret nuclear weapons program shows that he has had Tehran's mullah's pegged.

'What's happening today, and what's happened over the last little while, and what we've learned, has really shown that I've been 100 per cent right,' the president told reporters at the White House.

Netanyahu has led calls for Trump to withdraw from the nuclear deal, which was one of Obama's signature foreign policy achievements.

Netanyahu's speech on the Iran nuclear deal follows the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Israel on Sunday

Netanyahu said that Iran had lied about not pursuing nuclear weapons and had continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge after signing the JCPOA.

'Iran's leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons,' said Netanyahu.

'Tonight I'm here to tell you one thing: Iran lied.'

'After signing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret files,' he said.

'In 2017 Iran moved its nuclear weapons files to a highly secret location in Tehran.'

Netanyahu said that Iran continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge for future use.

His speech follows the visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday, during which the pair discussed Iran and the accord.

The Israeli premier has repeatedly called for the accord between world powers and his country's main enemy to either be altered or scrapped.

The JCPOA – known outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as 'The Iran Deal' – called for the U.S. to relax international sanctions and cut loose $150 billion in frozen Iranian funds and assets, in exchange for Tehran's pledge that it would pare back its nuclear weapons ambitions and limit its ability to enrich uranium and other fissile material.

Netanyahu has long criticized the deal and welcomed the Trump administration's pledge to withdraw next month if it is not improved.

He has welcomed a pledge by U.S. President Trump to decide on whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, putting in peril the 2015 nuclear accord, next month.

Making friends: U.S. President Donald Trump and Mr Netanyahu meet in the Oval Office of the White House during the latter's visit to the U.S. last month

Pompeo has warned that the United States will withdraw from the agreement 'if we can't fix it'.

The Israeli premier has repeatedly called for the accord between world powers and his country's main enemy to either be altered or scrapped.

He alleges the agreement does not prevent Iran from eventually obtaining nuclear weapons and says the lifting of sanctions has increased Tehran's ability to finance proxy militants in the Middle East.

Most world powers however say the nuclear deal is working as intended for now and is the best way to keep Iran from acquiring the bomb.

Before Netanyahu's speech, Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the Israeli leader was 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf [and is] at it again.'

Zarif said on Saturday that demands by Trump to change Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers were unacceptable.

Trump has said that unless European allies fix the 'terrible flaws' in the Iran nuclear deal by May 12, he will refuse to extend US sanctions relief for oil-producing Iran.

Israel is also deeply concerned over Iran's presence in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad's

Israeli officials have not commented on Monday's overnight airstrike that killed Iranians inside neighboring Syria, but officials have warned Iran against trying to attack Israeli targets.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said this morning that an overnight missile attack in the country's northern region has killed 26 pro-government fighters, mostly Iranians.

The negotiators of the Iran deal are seen above in July 2015 in Vienna. From left to right: European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini; Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif; the head of Iran's atomic energy organization, Ali Akbar Salehi; Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond; and US Secretary of State John Kerry

Then-President Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, deliver remarks after the nuclear deal is reached in 2015. The JCPOA is considered a signature foreign policy achievement for Obama, though signs point to Trump rolling it back

Th Observatory says the attack appears to have been carried out by Israel and targeted an arms depot for surface-to-surface missiles at a base in northern Syria known as Brigade 47.

Tehran has sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters to back President Bashar Assad's forces in the country's seven-year civil war.

Earlier on Monday, Syrian TV reported a 'new aggression,' with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside.

Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that his country is keen to develop ties with the rest of the world, which is 'not merely' the United States and European countries.

'I don't believe in cutting ties with the world but relying on the outside of the borders is a mistake within a mistake,' Khamenei was quoted as saying.

'We must certainly be wise, smart and resolute in our relations with the world, but we should also know that the world is not merely America and several European countries.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is keen to develop ties with the rest of the world, which is 'not merely' the United States and European countries

'The world is big and (we) must have relations with different countries,' he added, according to extracts of a speech he gave in Tehran published on his website.

Khamenei is also quoted as blasting the US Treasury Department, denouncing it as an 'economic war chamber against the system of the Islamic republic.'

Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has adopted a tough stance against Iran and repeatedly denounced the landmark nuclear deal which Tehran reached with world powers to curb its nuclear program.

Trump has said the deal - which Iran signed with Britain, France, China, Russia, the United States and Germany - must be 'fixed' by May 12 or Washington will walk away.

Most world powers however say the nuclear deal is working as intended for now and is the best way to keep Iran from acquiring the bomb.

During Sunday's speech, Khamenei also accused the United States of waging an 'economic and cultural war' against Iran, according to his website.