WarSclerotic

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif derided Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, shortly after Israel declassified documents Netanyahu said prove Iran lied about not pursuing nuclear weapons on the eve of a 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.

“Breaking: The boy who can’t stop crying wolf is at it again,” Zarif tweeted after Netanyahu staged a presentation Monday, unveiling what he termed a “half a ton” of documents procured by Israeli intelligence agents proving Iranian deception.

Mocking Netanyahu’s use of a cartoon bomb diagram in a 2012 address at the United Nations General Assembly, the tweet said Iran was “undeterred by the cartoon fiasco at UNGA. You can only fool some of the people so many times.”

Zarif called Israel’s accusations regarding Tehran’s nuclear program “old allegations” that had already been resolved in the past by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On May 12, U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to decide whether to restore crippling economic sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the 2015 agreement. Should he decide to reimpose sanctions, the deal, meant to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, would effectively collapse.

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi attacked Netanyahu for his presentation, saying it was an act of political desperation and calling the prime minister a “lying and scandal-hit bankrupt,” who has “nothing to offer but rumor-mongering and deception.”

“The heads of the Zionist regime see the survival of their illegitimate and lie-based regime dependent on portraying others as threats using the worn-out charlatanism of the age of ignorance,” Qassemi added.

In another tweet, Zarif wrote that “Pres. Trump is jumping on a rehash of old allegations already dealt with by the IAEA to ‘nix’ the deal.”

“How convenient. Coordinated timing of alleged intelligence revelations by the boy who cries wolf just days before May 12. But Trump’s impetuousness to celebrate blew the cover,” Zarif tweeted.

Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported on Monday that Israel’s allegations about Tehran’s nuclear program were “childish and ridiculous,” and clearly aimed at affecting Trump’s decision.

“Netanyahu’s show was a childish and ridiculous game. … The planned show ahead of May 12 deadline is meant to affect Trump’s decision on Iran’s nuclear deal,” Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted by Tasnim as saying.

In an interview with the Iranian Students News Agency, Araqchi said, “Regardless of whether the U.S. withdraws from the deal or not, the continued status quo is intolerable and we will consider taking special steps. Iran is ready for any eventuality concerning the 2015 nuclear deal.”

Meanwhile Monday, Iranian TV quoted an official as saying that Netanyahu “didn’t learn his lesson from previous times. We won’t be silenced and will be sure to respond appropriately.”

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Monday that Iran has the technical capability to enrich uranium to a higher level than it could before the multinational deal was reached.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, threatened that if the U.S. withdraws from the agreement, Iran would be at an advantage to further develop nuclear capabilities.

“I have said this more than once, that technically, we are fully capable of returning [to enriching uranium] further than in the past and in parts comparably higher than before,” Salehi said.

“We hope that we never have to come to this situation,” he continued, “and hope that Mr. Trump and his colleagues, his government, come to their senses and do not cause a headache and create problems either for themselves nor for us or others.”

Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, blasted the West’s demand to put the Iranian missile program under supervision, one of Trump’s main conditions for remaining in the nuclear deal.

“Our enemies want us to disarm while they threaten us,” he said on Monday. “This act is immoral, irrational and ambitious.”

He warned that “we will never abandon our deterrence capability or disarm.”