Iran is storing up to 300 tonnes of nuclear material at a storage facility near its capital and directing Hezbollah to hide missiles underneath Beirut, Benjamin Netanyahu said in his annual address to the UN General Assembly.

The Israeli Prime Minister held up a map of an area near Tehran on a poster-board as he addressed delegates, saying it was evidence that Iran still wanted to develop nuclear weapons despite a 2015 agreement with world powers.

But his remarks were dismissed by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said it was an “arts and craft show”.

Mr Netanyahu said during his speech: “You have to ask yourself a question: Why did Iran keep a secret atomic archive and a secret atomic warehouse?

“What Iran hides, Israel will find."

The allegation comes four months after the Mr Netanyahu unveiled what he said was a vast archive of secret documents relating to the Iranian nuclear programme that Israeli special forces removed from a separate site in Tehran.

The Israeli Prime Minister said on Thursday: “Since we raided the atomic archive, they've been busy cleaning out the atomic warehouse. Just last month they removed 15 kilograms of radioactive material.

“You know what they did with it?

“They took it out and they spread it around Tehran in an effort to hide the evidence.”

The speech evoked memories of Mr Netanyahu’s 2012 address to the General Assembly, when he presented a cartoon picture of a bomb to warn how close Iran was to producing a nuclear device.

Later on Thursday evening, Mr Zarif tweeted: “No arts & craft show will ever obfuscate that Israel is only regime in our region with a *secret* and *undeclared* nuclear weapons program - including an *actual atomic arsenal*.

“Time for Israel to fess up and open its illegal nuclear weapons program to international inspectors.”

No arts & craft show will ever obfuscate that Israel is only regime in our region with a *secret* and *undeclared* nuclear weapons program - including an *actual atomic arsenal*. Time for Israel to fess up and open its illegal nuclear weapons program to international inspectors.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 27, 2018