The White House considers the information given by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Iranian nuclear program "convincing".
"These facts are in line with what the United States has known for a long time: that Iran had a strong, secret nuclear weapons program that it had tried and failed to hide from the world and its own people."
The US Secretary of State said the information was "authentic" and some of it remained unknown until yesterday.
Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State
"I know there are some who say that these documents are not authentic. I can assure you that these documents are true, they are authentic "
Asked if the United States had known for years about the existence of the program, which is said to be called "Amad", Pompeo replied: "This is partly true. The Amad program ended around December 2003, in January 2004 "and would be" accurate if we said we had been aware for some time ". "But there are thousands of new documents and new information.
President Trump has long stated his desire to step down his country the 2015 international agreement on Iran's nuclear program and is to make a decision by May 12.
Iran's reaction
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Netanyahu's move was a childish ploy to influence Trump's decision on whether the United States should pursue a nuclear deal with Iran.
What is Iran being accused of?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, in an emergency speech, accused Iran of carrying out a secret nuclear weapons program called Project Amad, and said he had continued to develop nuclear weapons.
He said he had in his possession evidence of 55 pages, which were found in a warehouse in Tehran.
Iran has denied that it was studying nuclear weapons and agreed in 2015 with world powers to limit its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
The Israeli prime minister has not provided evidence that Iran has violated the agreement since it entered into force in early 2016. However, he insisted that the Amad project had continued at the Iranian Ministry of Defense.
Netanyahu's next steps
Ο Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that he had spoken with the leaders of France and Germany and that Israel would send experts to share information it had about Iran's nuclear activities, which the Israeli leader had earlier denounced.
Netanyahu's office tweeted that Israel "will send teams of professionals in the coming days to share with Germany and France the detailed material that Israel has on Iran's efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon."
Netanyahu also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the secret documents.
How does the 2015 agreement work?
An agreement signed between Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain has postponed economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran's nuclear program.
There have been fears that Iran will use the program to build nuclear weapons.
Under the agreement, officially known as the Joint Integrated Action Plan (JCPOA), Iran is committed to reducing the number of its centrifuges, which are engines used to enrich uranium.