Trump says Iran's claim of arresting CIA spies is 'totally false'

President Donald Trump on Monday denied Iran's claim that it had arrested 17 CIA spies, calling the report "totally false" and slamming the country's Islamist leadership as "Badly Failing."

The president's denial, combined with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's casting doubt on the report, raised concerns among some intelligence experts who said addressing the Iranian claim at all could hurt future spy operations in Iran.

Trump used Twitter to dismiss the Iranian assertion.

"Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot down drone) put out by a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing and has no idea what to do," Trump wrote. "Their Economy is dead, and will get much worse. Iran is a total mess!"

Earlier in the day, Pompeo, who previously led the CIA, contended that the Islamic Republic "has a long history of lying," though he did not directly address Iran's claim that it had captured U.S. spies.

"It's part of the nature of the Ayatollah to lie to the world," Pompeo told Fox News. "I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions that they've taken."

Iran said it has arrested 17 Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the CIA to spy on the country’s nuclear and military sites, and that some of them have already been sentenced to death.

The arrests took place over the past months and those taken into custody worked on “sensitive sites” in the country’s military and nuclear facilities, an Iranian intelligence official told a press conference in Tehran.

He did not say how many of them got the death sentence nor when the sentences were handed down.

Asked about the reported arrests, Pompeo said he "can't add much to it specifically," but "would urge everyone who’s reading that story waking up to understand that the Iranian regime has a long history of lying."

Trump's decision to weigh in on the sensitive matter upset some former U.S. officials with intelligence backgrounds.

"There’s a reason the government NEVER comments on such claims," tweeted Ned Price, a former CIA officer and spokesman for the Obama administration who has emerged as a prominent critic of Trump. "The next time an allegation goes unanswered, it will be assumed to be true. And why give our adversaries ANY information on CIA operations? Another instance of a twitchy Twitter finger trumping our national security."

But Thomas Sanderson, a geopolitical risk consultant with expertise in intelligence, said it was hard to say if the U.S. would never comment on such cases, though he noted that Trump has little "message discipline."

"Every single case is unique on its own merits," he said.

The CIA declined to comment.

The announcement from Tehran comes as Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers is unraveling and tensions have spiked in the Persian Gulf region. The crisis stems in part from Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of Tehran’s deal last year and intensify sanctions on the country. Trump has been trying to entice Iran to negotiate another deal that would cover the country's non-nuclear behaviors, but the two sides have yet to begin negotiations.

"If they want to make a deal, frankly it's getting harder for me to want to make a deal with Iran because they have behaved very badly," Trump told reporters Monday afternoon at the White House. "They're saying bad things. I'll tell you it could go either way very easily. Very easily. And I'm okay either way it goes."

Thus far, the chance of military conflict between the U.S. and Iran has only grown since Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal. Last week, the president announced that a U.S. warship had shot down an Iranian drone in a "defensive action," an assertion that Iran rejected. And weeks before, after Iran said it shot down an American drone, Trump approved and then called off a retaliatory airstrike, citing the potential loss of life as an unequal response.

"I think Iran doesn't know where they are," Trump told reporters. "Right now they're a very mixed up country."

"We are ready for the absolute worst and we're ready for sense too, but we are very geared up," he added.

At Monday's press conference in Iran announcing the alleged arrests, the Iranian official only identified himself as the director of the counterespionage department of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. Such a move is highly unusual in Iran — officials usually identify themselves at press conferences. It is also rare for intelligence officials to appear before the media.

The official claimed that none of the 17 arrested individuals, who allegedly had “sophisticated training,” had succeeded in their sabotage missions. Their spying missions included collecting information at the facilities they worked at, carrying out technical and intelligence activities and transferring and installing monitoring devices, he said.

The official further claimed the CIA had promised those arrested U.S. visas or jobs in America and that some of the agents had turned and were now working with his department “against the U.S.”

He also handed out a CD with a video recording of an alleged foreign female spy working for the CIA. The disc also included names of several U.S. Embassy staff in Turkey, India, Zimbabwe and Austria who Iran claims were in touch with the recruited Iranian spies. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Occasionally, Iran announces detentions of spies it says are working for foreign countries, including the U.S. and Israel. In June, Iran said it executed a former staff member of the Defense Ministry who was convicted of spying for the CIA.

In April, Iran said it uncovered 290 CIA spies both inside and outside the country over the past years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.