Mike Pompeo is all in on Benjamin Netanyahu's Iran claims

Israel’s claim that Iran continued to develop its nuclear program after the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal could prompt the U.S. to pull out of agreement, Mike Pompeo suggested late Monday.

The recently confirmed secretary of state said the documents proved Tehran was "not telling the truth," even though much of the global community was left underwhelmed by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s televised address.

Using a Powerpoint presentation, Netanyahu unveiled Monday what he said were documents obtained by Israeli intelligence from a warehouse in Tehran that showed Iran had stored and expanded its nuclear weapons program since signing the 2015 accord. The Israeli leader said the documents were “proof” of an Iranian nuclear weapons program that could be reactivated any time.

Responding to the presentation, Pompeo — who had met with Netanyahu on a visit to Tel Aviv a day earlier — said the U.S. believed all the Israeli-obtained files it had reviewed so far were authentic, and that the revelations would feed into President Trump's upcoming decision on whether to stay in the Iran nuclear deal.

“The documents obtained by Israel from inside of Iran show beyond any doubt that the Iranian regime was not telling the truth,” Pompeo said in a statement, which added that the U.S. was assessing what the files meant for the future of the deal.

READ: Netanyahu tried to get Trump to kill the Iran deal

“Iran had many opportunities to turn over its files to international inspectors from the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and admit its nuclear work. Instead, they lied to the IAEA repeatedly. They also lied about their program to the six nations who negotiated the Iran nuclear deal. What this means is the deal was not constructed on a foundation of good faith or transparency.”

On Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump, who is due to decide by May 12 whether to exit the deal, said Netanyahu’s speech showed his criticisms of the agreement are “100 percent right.”

But other signatories to the deal were unmoved by Netanyahu’s briefing, which analysts said contained nothing new and failed to provide any evidence that Iran had worked to obtain a nuclear weapon since the 2015 deal was signed.

The three European signatories — France, Britain, and Germany — reaffirmed their commitment to the deal, with a British government spokesman saying his government had “never been naive about Iran and its nuclear intentions.” U.K. Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said the agreement “contributes to peace in the region.”

The European Union's foreign policy head, Federica Mogherini, said Netanyahu’s presentation did not draw Iran’s compliance with the terms of the deal into question.

And Rob Malley, a member of the Obama administration’s Iran negotiating team, said Israel had disclosed “nothing new,” but that wouldn’t matter to Netanyahu’s sole intended audience.

“There is nothing new in Bibi's presentation. All it does is vindicate the need for the nuclear deal,” he tweeted.

“But the Israeli prime minister has an audience of one: Trump. And he's unfortunately unlikely to reach the same conclusion.”

Tehran shot back at Netanyahu Tuesday, branding the Israeli leader a “broke and infamous liar who has had nothing to offer except lies and deceits.”

"Netanyahu and the notorious, child-killing Zionist regime must have reached the basic understanding that the people of the world have enough awareness and cognisance," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

Tensions between Israel and the Islamic Republic have been close to the boiling point following recent strikes on military bases in Syria that have killed Iranian soldiers and have been blamed on Israel. Israel is anxious about Iran’s deepening military presence in Syria and has pledged to prevent it from gaining a permanent foothold.

Cover image: Mike Pompeo holds a joint press conference with Jordan's foreign affairs minister Ayman Safadi on April 30, 2018 in Amman, Jordan. (Salah Malkawi/Getty Images)