Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz appeared to suggest that the US must get rid of Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei if Tehran tries to acquire a nuclear weapon.

Speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington on Friday, Cruz once again denounced the Iran nuclear deal, which is set for implementation, vowing to tear it up on his first day in the White House if he succeeds in winning the election, CNN reported.

"And if the ayatollah doesn't understand that, we may have to help introduce him to the 72 virgins," a grinning Cruz said amid cheers from the crowd. He was referring to the Islamic belief that Muslims who die as martyrs, or those who die while killing or attempting to kill infidels, will be greeted in heaven by "dark, beautiful women with long eyelashes who will be made virgins again after every intercourse" as allegedly stated in the Quran. Some Islamic scholars even put the number of "virgins" at 72 for each martyr.

It was the first time that Cruz hinted at killing the top Iranian leader whom he frequently calls a "radical theocratic zealot."

The senator is one of the harshest critics of the Iran nuclear deal among the Republican presidential candidates. He was quoted as saying that President Obama became the "leading financier'' of state-sponsored terrorism when he approved the deal with Iran.

Cruz is also reportedly among the GOP hard-liners who helped pressure John Boehner to vacate his post as House Speaker.

In his opening round of jokes, Cruz labelled Barack Obama—not the visiting Chinese president—"the world's most powerful communist." He also joked that the upcoming Democratic debate should be held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the site of a military prison that is currently being reviewed as a possible place to house inmates from Guantanamo Bay.

CNN said Cruz's usual sarcastic remarks often always elicit cheers and laughter from the crowd. But not everyone reportedly agreed that the senator's dig at Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei was a harmless joke.