The Supreme Court of Iran has reportedly sentenced an Iranian man to death for allegedly spying for the CIA
According to Iranian State Media, the man is alleged to have shared details of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program with America’s Central Intelligence Agency.
Two other alleged spies were given 15-year prison terms but none of their identities have been revealed.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said the man would be “executed soon.”
“Amir Rahimpour, who was a CIA spy and got big pay out and tried to present part of Iran’s nuclear information to the American intelligence service had been tried and sentenced to death and recently the supreme court upheld his sentence and you will see it carried out soon,”.
The last alleged US spy to be executed in Iran was Shahram Amiri, who was hung in 2016. Amiri had defected to the US at the height of Washington’s efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. When he returned to Iran in 2010, he received a warm welcome from politicians and was a popular guest on talk shows. He suddenly disappeared before it was confirmed that he was tried and killed for espionage.
Read also: S/Court Verdict: We‘ll not Tolerate any Breach of Law and Order in Benue- Police
Last summer, Iran said it had busted a spy ring of 17 individuals, sentencing some of them to death. However, it has not been confirmed if these executions have been carried out.
There has been high tension between Washington and Tehran after Donald Trump assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, with subsequent attacks on US embassies and outposts in Iraq.