Iran on Monday rejected a claim by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Tehran had been developing nuclear weapons at a secret site and said he was seeking a pretext for war.
"The possessor of real nukes cries wolf," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet, a reference to Israel's own presumed nuclear arsenal.
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On Monday, Netanyahu said that Tehran had been developing nuclear weapons at a secret site in Abadeh in Iran but had destroyed the facility after learning it had been exposed.
Zarif said in a tweet: "He & #B_Team just want a war, no matter innocent blood & another $7 TRILLION."
The Iranian foreign minister has in the past said that a so-called "B-team" including US President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton, Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could goad the US president into a conflict with Tehran.
Netanyahu revealed on Monday that Iran was apparently in violation of its nuclear obligations, saying it had a "nuclear weapons development site" south of Isfahan.
Netanyahu said that the site, in Abadeh, was uncovered in the nuclear archives that Israel seized in a secret mission.
"In this site, Iran conducted experiments to develop nuclear weapons," he said. "When they realized we uncovered this site, they destroyed it; they wiped it out. When they realized we were onto them, they tried to destroy the evidence," he continued.
He then sent "the tyrants of Tehran" a stern warning: "We know what you are doing; Israel knows when you are doing it, and Israel knows where you are doing it. We will continue to expose your lies; what we see is a consistent pattern of Iranian lies, deception, and violations."
He also spoke about the "atomic nuclear warehouse" that Iran had just outside Tehran, a day after nuclear inspectors confirmed it was indeed an undeclared site that contained radioactive material.
"A year ago I exposed Iran's secret atomic warehouse, they [Iran] said that it was a carpet cleaning facility," Netanyahu said. He then showed imagery attesting to the Iranian activity following the exposure.
"They put gravel on it to hide traces, but the International Atomic Energy Agency [the nuclear watchdog] found traces of uranium, that is a direct violation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," he said.
He said that the only way "to stop Iran from getting the bomb is pressure, pressure and more pressure."
