Iran has accused the Trump administration of spreading "big lies" about its nuclear programme and the January unrest that rocked the country after US President Donald Trump made fresh allegations during his State of the Union address.
Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said Washington was engaged in a campaign of "disinformation and misinformation" against Tehran.
"Whatever they're alleging in regards to Iran's nuclear program, Iran's ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January's unrest is simply the repetition of 'big lies,'" Baghaei said Wednesday in a statement issued on social media. "Professional liars are good at creating the 'illusion of truth'."
His comments came after Trump, in his address Tuesday night, accused Iran of reviving nuclear ambitions. "They were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular nuclear weapons… They want to start all over again and are at this moment pursuing their sinister ambitions," Trump said.
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The US president did not provide evidence to support the claim or elaborate on why Washington believes Tehran has restarted its nuclear weapons programme.
Framing Iran as a growing threat, Trump added: "They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America."
He also signalled that military action remained an option if Iran did not abandon what he described as its ambitions.
"We are in negotiations with them [Iran]. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words, 'We will never have a nuclear weapon,'” Trump said. "No nation should ever doubt America's resolve.. We have the most powerful military on earth."
The remarks come amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. In June last year, the US joined Israel in launching strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. Trump later said the operation had “completely and totally obliterated” the facilities.
Protest Death Toll Disputed
Trump also referred to the January protests in Iran, claiming the regime had killed "at least 32,000 protesters". "They've killed at least 32,000 protesters in their own country — they shot a lot of them and hung them," he said, calling Iranian authorities "terrible people".
In late January, local health officials told TIME that the protest death toll could exceed 30,000. TIME said it was unable to independently verify those figures.
Iranian officials rejected Trump's claims. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker, called the allegation "false" in remarks reported Wednesday. "Don't make wrong decisions based on false information," he said, adding that Iran is "not looking for weapons".
Talks Continue
The exchange of accusations comes just ahead of a third round of nuclear talks between Iranian and US officials in Geneva on Thursday. The two sides met last week and made "a little bit of progress" but remain "very far apart on some issues", White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
The upcoming negotiations are expected to focus on Iran's nuclear activities and potential limits, even as rhetoric between Washington and Tehran intensifies.
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