JERUSALEM, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Friday strongly rejected an assertion by U.S. President Barack Obama that Israel recognizes the efficiency of the Iran deal, comparing it to the 1938 agreement with Hitler.

Obama told a press conference at the Pentagon on Thursday that senior Israeli officials now support the nuclear deal.

"The Israeli defense establishment believes that agreements have value only if they are based on reality. They have no value if the facts on the ground are opposite to the ones the deal is based on," said the statement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a vocal opponent of the deal, which was signed on July 2015 between Iran and the world powers.

The newly-appointed Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the hawkish leader of the far-right "Yisrael Our Home" party, is also a fierce opponent of the deal.