Iran has detained 17 Iranian citizens accused of acting as spies for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, according to the country's Ministry of Intelligence.

An Intelligence Ministry document sent to CNN claims Iran had broken up a CIA spying ring and captured 17 suspects, all of whom confessed to acting as spies for the CIA.

"Defendants serving their sentences in prison mentioning tempting promises of CIA officers including emigration to USA, a proper job in America, and money," the Intelligence Ministry document said. It added that the spy mission was to collect classified information "from substantial centers as well as intelligence/technical operations."

The ministry said some of the 17 will be executed.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged caution in response to the announcement. Speaking on the Fox & Friends morning news show, he said: "The Iranian regime has a long history of lying ... I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions they've taken."

The announcement comes amid a standoff between Tehran and Western powers following President Donald Trump's 2018 decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran, and an accelerating series of recent maritime episodes, including Iran's seizure of a UK-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.

Under the heading "Destiny of Spies," Iran's Intelligence Ministry said in the document: "Individuals who consciously and deliberately betrayed the country and refused to compensate for the losses have been handed over to the judiciary system. Others, who honestly cooperated with the security system and their remorsefulness have been proved, have been managed with intelligence direction against Americans."

CNN has approached the CIA for comment.

Tensions in the region escalated further over the weekend after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) captured a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.

The IRGC accused the vessel of "violating international regulations."

Britain has warned Iran it would take "robust" action in response. The UK government's emergency response committee, known as COBRA, is meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.

Iran's actions in the strait came just hours after authorities in Gibraltar agreed to extend the detention of an Iranian oil tanker in its custody for 30 days. That ship, the Grace 1, was seized by British authorities on July 4, accused of attempting to transport oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. </s> Iranian officials said Monday that 17 people have been captured who were allegedly spies working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, NBC News reported.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry held a briefing on Monday where they announced the alleged spies were Iranian citizens but trained by the CIA.

Some of those arrested have been sentenced to death, the Intelligence Ministry said.

U.S. officials have not yet responded to the allegations. The Iranian government occasionally makes similar claims and it was not immediately possible to determine whether they are legitimate. The U.S. government never acknowledges CIA recruitment abroad. </s> • Iran’s intelligence ministry said it broke up a CIA spying ring in the country, and detained 17 Iranian suspects.
• The suspects were employed in “vital private sector centers in the economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber areas,” where they “collected classified information,” the ministry said, according to Sky News.
• They were lured into working for the CIA by being offered a chance to move to the US and work there, CNN reported the ministry as saying.
• Iranian news agencies also published photos of several men purported to be the spying ring’s handlers.
• Monday’s announcement comes as nuclear and military tensions between Tehran and the West continue to mount.

Iran says it has detained 17 citizens accused of spying for the CIA, and that some of them will be executed.

The country’s intelligence ministry said it had broken up a spying ring consisting of Iranian who were lured by a chance to move to the US and work there, CNN reported on Monday.

The suspects were “employed in sensitive and vital private sector centers in the economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber areas … where they collected classified information,” an Iranian intelligence official told state TV on Monday, according to Sky News.

The intelligence official did not give his name, which Sky News said is unusual.

The CIA has not yet responded to Iran’s announcement.

The mission of the alleged spies had been to collect classified information “from substantial centers as well as intelligence/technical operations,” the intelligence ministry said in a document, cited by CNN.

Iranian authorities arrested the alleged spies months ago, and many of them have been detained in prison since, according to Sky News and CNN reported.

Some of the suspects have also been sentenced to death, though the unnamed intelligence official did not say how many, Sky News reported.

Iran’s intelligence ministry said in a document, as cited by CNN: “Defendants serving their sentences in prison mentioning tempting promises of CIA officers including emigration to USA, a proper job in America, and money.”

All 17 suspects have confessed to spying for the CIA, CNN said.

Amnesty International reported last week, however, that Iranian authorities have a history of using solitary confinement and threats against family members to make people unsavory to the regime confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

The ministry also appeared to suggest that Iranian authorities plan to retaliate against the CIA.

It said, according to CNN: “Individuals who consciously and deliberately betrayed the country and refused to compensate for the losses have been handed over to the judiciary system.”

“Others, who honestly cooperated with the security system and their remorsefulness have been proved, have been managed with intelligence direction against Americans,” the ministry added.

Tehran’s announcement comes amid weeks of spiraling tensions with the West.

There have been several maritime skirmishes on the Strait of Hormuz – a narrow waterway to Iran’s south that’s crucial to global oil trade – since mid-June.

Iranian authorities seized two British-linked oil tankers in the strait last Friday, in what appears to be retaliation to the UK’s seizure of an Iranian oil tanker off the British territory of Gibraltar on July 4. Iran seized the British-flagged Stena Impero, and briefly detained another ship, the Mescar.

Read more: A radio recording reveals the exchange between a Royal Navy frigate and Iranian armed forces vessels moments before a UK tanker was seized

US President Donald Trump last week also said a US warship had shot down an Iranian drone, though Tehran has repeatedly said this didn’t happen.

Iran and the West remain at odds over the 2015 nuclear deal and crippling US sanctions. Tehran violated a 300 kg limit on enriched uranium earlier this month and has vowed to increase its stockpile. </s> Iran said Monday it has arrested 17 Iranians accused of spying on the country’s nuclear and military sites for the CIA.

The alleged spies had “sophisticated training” and worked on “sensitive sites” in “economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber fields or their counterpart private sector,” the Iranian Intelligence Ministry’s director of counterespionage reportedly said at a rare press conference in Tehran.

All the alleged spies are reportedly Iranian nationals arrested in the past few months. Some of the 17 who resisted cooperating with Iranian intelligence will be locked up for a lengthy period, and some have already been sentenced to death, the counterintelligence director said.

“The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth,” the president wrote on Twitter. “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. Their Economy is dead, and will get much worse. Iran is a total mess!”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who previously was CIA director, appeared to agree.

“The Iranian regime has a long history of lying,” Pompeo said Monday. “It’s part of the nature of the ayatollah to lie to the world. I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions that they’ve taken.”

The latest conflict comes amid a continuing escalation of bilateral tensions that started when President Trump pulled out of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran last May. Last month, Iran shot down an unmanned American military-surveillance drone over the Gulf of Oman. Trump originally ordered military strikes on Iranian targets as retaliation but canceled that order at the last minute. </s> (Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )-Iran has accused one of its own citizens of spying for Britain and jailed them for ten years. A government official told the Iranian Fars news agency the unidentified person worked for the British Council's Iran desk. "An Iranian who was in charge of Iran desk in the British Council and was cooperating with Britain's intelligence agency... was sentenced to 10 years in prison after clear confessions," Gholamhossein Esmaili, a judiciary spokesman, has said. </s> DUBAI, United Arab Emirates >> Iran today announced the arrest of 17 Iranians it accused of spying on the country’s nuclear and military sites for the CIA and said some of them have been sentenced to death. President Donald Trump said there was “zero truth” to the claims.

The arrests happened over the past months, an Iranian intelligence official said at a news conference in Tehran. He said those taken into custody worked on “sensitive sites” in military and nuclear installations. The official did not say how many were given death sentences.

The announcement came amid weeks of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran over Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers last year and impose sweeping sanctions on the country.

The official said the 17 were recruited by the CIA and had “sophisticated training” but did not succeed in their sabotage missions. Their spying missions included collecting information at the facilities where they worked and installing monitoring devices, he said.

He said some were staff members at the targeted facilities, and the rest were working as consultant and contractors. The official said the CIA had promised them U.S. visas or jobs in America.

“The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda,” Trump tweeted, noting Iran’s denials that a U.S. warship in the Strait of Hormuz had destroyed an Iranian drone last week.

“Their Economy is dead, and will get much worse. Iran is a total mess!” he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director, declined to address specifics of the arrests but said: “The Iranian regime has a long history of lying.”

“I think everyone should take with a grain of salt everything that the Islamic Republic of Iran asserts today,” he added.

With tensions rising recently, the U.S. has increased its military presence in the region and is sending at least 500 U.S. soldiers to Saudi Arabia, Iran’s rival.

Last month, U.S. officials said American military cyberforces struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard computers, disabling systems that controlled its rocket and missile launchers. The cyberattack came after Trump backed away from an airstrike in response to Iran’s downing of a U.S. surveillance drone.

The Iranian official did not give his name but was identified as the director of the counterespionage department of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. It is rare in Iran for intelligence officials to appear before media, or for any official to give a news conference without identifying himself.

The official said some of the agents recruited by the CIA had turned and are now working with his department against the United States.

He also handed out a CD with video of what Iran said was a foreign female spy working for the CIA. The disc also included the names of several U.S. Embassy staff members in Turkey, India, Zimbabwe and Austria who Iran said were in touch with the recruited Iranian spies.

Iran occasionally announces the detention of people it says are spying for foreign countries, including the U.S. and Israel. In June, Iran said it executed a former Defense Ministry employee convicted of spying for the CIA. In April, it said it uncovered 290 CIA spies inside and outside the country over the past several years. </s> The Iranian government said on Monday that it had broken up a CIA spy ring, in the latest sign of increased tensions between Iran, the US and other NATO powers.

A statement carried on public television from the Intelligence Ministry in Tehran claimed that they had detained 17 suspected agents. The Fars news agency, nominally independent but considered at least partly state-influenced, said that some of them had been given death sentences.

"Some were sentenced to death and some to long-term imprisonment," the ministry told reporters.

Official: Suspects were Iranians recruited by CIA

Iran recently claimed to have exposed a large cyber espionage network which it said was run by the CIA. At a press conference, an intelligence official said that the arrests had taken place over the past months. He did not specify how many suspects had been sentenced to capital punishment. In an unusual move, the official did not identify himself at the press gathering.

He said that some had been recruited by a "visa trap" scheme, set up by the CIA for Iranians looking to travel to the US. They were allegedly promised immigration documents or jobs in the US in return for espionage work. All the suspects were Iranian nationals who had acted independently of one another, he told journalists.

"Some were approached when they were applying for a visa, while others had visas from before and were pressured by the CIA in order to renew them."

The official added that some of those arrested had received "sophisticated training" and worked at nuclear and military facilities, then said that none had succeeded in their missions of sabotage.

They had been "employed at sensitive and crucial centers and also the private sector related to them, working as contractors or consultants," he said.

Iran said in April that it had uncovered nearly 300 CIA spies working in Iran over the past few years.

Trump: Iran is a mess and it is fabricating stories

President Donald Trump categorically denied the reports of Iran capturing spies from the CIA. He tweeted the claims are "totally false" and that the Middle Eastern state "is a total mess!"

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo poured more scorn on the claims, saying "the Iranian regime has a long history of lying."

He declined to comment specifically on the arrests, but added: "I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions that they've taken."

The announcement came after months of rapidly escalating confrontation between Tehran and Washington, and other NATO members after US President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal and imposed economic sanctions, and more recently over the detainment of an oil tanker by British authorities that prompted a retaliatory seizure by Iran.

es/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> LONDON (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had sentenced an Iranian national to 10 years prison for spying for Britain.

“An Iranian who was in charge of Iran desk in the British Council and was cooperating with Britain’s intelligence agency... was sentenced to 10 years in prison after clear confessions,” Gholamhossein Esmaili, a judiciary spokesman, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

He did not identify the person who was sentenced. The British Council is Britain’s cultural agency overseas. </s> Iran’s Intelligence Ministry on Monday announced that it has dismantled a spying network inside the country serving the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States.

A total of 17 people were arrested linked to the network, said a statement from the ministry carried by the official IRNA news agency.

Some of the detainees have been sentenced to death, it said, but did not identify those arrested.

“The identified spies were employed in sensitive and vital private sector centres in the economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber areas… where they collected classified information,” it said.

The statement was also cited by Press TV.

A detailed statement was later published by Fars news agency, with photographs of some of the spies captured:

The director-general of the intelligence ministry’s counterespionage department said in a press conference in Tehran on Monday that the detained spies had been trained by the CIA and were captured inside the country.

“The rulings for these spies have been issued and a number of them will be executed as corruptors on Earth,” he added.

Identified spies are staffs of sensitive and significant centers and their counterpart private sectors, working as contractors or consultors.

Totally, 17 spies have been identified who were operating in unlinked cells.

“Since CIA abuses the process of US visa application, some of the Iranian citizens get into the visa trap and they are asked to be hired as spies in return for a US visa. Some others who intended to maintain or extend their visas, have been framed up by the CIA, in violation of the US laws,” the intelligence ministry official said, and added, “Some of the CIA’s baits managed to escape this trap with the help of their lawyers.”

“Through establishing windon companies and under the pretext of hiring Iranian specialists in these corporations or supplying equipment from abroad, the CIA arranges to get up approaches to Iranian citizens,” he added.

Direct propaganda of CIA officers under “diplomatic titles” to Iranian citizens on the sidelines of scientific conferences in European, African, and Asian countries was one of the intelligence approach methods. In some cases, CIA officers introduced themselves as an American intelligence agent and then through E-mails or messages in social networks invited users of these networks to intelligence cooperation.

Tempting promises of CIA officers, including emigration to USA, a proper job in America, and money has been among other ways used by the US intelligence body to hire spies, the intelligence ministry said, and added, “Even, medical aid abroad had been promised to some spies, but none of them came true.”

“Something in common among all members of this network is the promise to guarantee spies safety both in and outside Iran and the full assurance about not being detected by Iran counter espionage, the official said.

Later it released the photos of the CIA handlers of the captured spies as well as some relevant documents pertaining the case.

Collecting classified information from substantial centers as well as intelligence-technical operations, were the assigned missions to this network, according to the official.

He said all individuals had been trained by CIA officers in complicated courses about how to set up a safe communication from inside Iran to abroad.
The Iranian government announces the arrest of 17 citizens in the last months who are accused of spying in favour of the CIA.