Photos: Iran dismantles CIA “spying network”

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.

These centers include economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber fields.

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.