"The Israeli prime minister's presentation on Iran's past research into nuclear weapons technology underlines the importance of keeping the Iran nuclear deal's constraints on Tehran's nuclear ambitions," Johnson said in a Foreign Office statement.

With US President Donald Trump weighing up whether to stay in the deal, Johnson insisted that the agreement was not "based on trust about Iran's intentions" -- the core of Netanyahu's claims -- "rather it is based on tough verification" by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"The fact that Iran conducted sensitive research in secret until 2003 shows why we need the intrusive inspections allowed by the Iran nuclear deal today," added Johnson.

The 2015 deal negotiated between Iran and six world powers, including Britain, imposes nuclear inspections on Iran in return for the loosening of economic sanctions, but Trump is threatening to pull out.

Johnson insisted that the verification provisions in the deal "would make it harder for Iran to restart any such research.

"That is another good reason for keeping the deal while building on it in order to take account of the legitimate concerns of the US and our other allies," he added.

The Israeli premier has repeatedly called for the deal to be either altered or scrapped, but did not present evidence on Monday that Iran had actively worked to obtain an atomic weapon since the deal was struck.