Iran has charged the Trump Administration with peddling “big lies” about its nuclear program and the January uprising against the Iranian regime, during which security forces killed tens of thousands of protesters.
Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, claimed the U.S. has launched a “disinformation and misinformation” campaign against Iran.
“Whatever they are alleging regarding Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is merely the repetition of ‘big lies,'” he stated Wednesday morning in a social media statement. “Professional liars are adept at creating the ‘illusion of truth.'”
Baghaei’s comments came after President Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, spoke of Iran restarting “sinister ambitions” related to nuclear weaponry.
“They were warned not to make future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, particularly nuclear weapons… They want to start anew and are currently pursuing their sinister ambitions,” the U.S. President claimed.
Trump provided no evidence to support this assertion, nor did he elaborate on why the U.S. believes Iran has moved to restart its nuclear weapons program.
Portraying Iran as a direct threat, Trump continued: “They have already developed missiles capable of threatening Europe and our overseas bases, and they are working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
He appeared to suggest the U.S. would consider action if Tehran does not abandon these ambitions.
Trump, who has recently increased the U.S. military presence in the Middle East amid heightened tensions with Iran, went on to extol the strength of U.S. forces.
“We are in negotiations with them [Iran]. They want a deal, but we have not heard those key words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,'” Trump said. “No nation should ever question America’s resolve… We have the most powerful military on Earth.”
In June last year, the U.S. joined Israel in launching strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites—an action Trump said had “completely and totally destroyed” the targeted facilities.
These strikes were referenced by Trump earlier this year, when he warned Iran of potential U.S. military intervention amid reports that the Iranian regime was killing large numbers of protesters who had initially gathered to demonstrate against a collapsing economy.
Trump addressed the protests during his State of the Union address. “They have killed at least 32,000 protesters in their own country—they shot many and hanged others,” he said, referring to the regime as “terrible people.”
In late January, local health officials told TIME that the protest death toll stood at 30,000. TIME has not been able to independently verify these figures.
Iranian officials dismissed the latest figures presented by Trump.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, called the claim “false” in an address early Wednesday. “Do not make wrong decisions based on false information,” he was reported to say, adding that Iran is “not seeking weapons.”
Iran’s rebuttal comes one day before its negotiators are set to meet with American officials in Geneva on Thursday for a third round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
The two sides met last week, where they made “a little bit of progress” but remain “very far apart on some issues,” according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
