Israel PM Netanyahu: 'Iran lied' after signing the nuclear deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran had lied about not pursuing nuclear weapons and had continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge after signing a 2015 deal with global powers.

"Iran's leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons," said Netanyahu during a television address. "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.

The Israeli leader has long opposed the 2015 nuclear deal, an agreement that US President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of and criticised as a "bad" and "terrible" deal.

European allies, including France, Germany and the UK, have pressed Trump to not back out of the nuclear agreement.