Dubai
Iran has captured 17 spies working for the US Central Intelligence Agency and some have been sentenced to death, Iranian media reported on Monday. State television quoted the Intelligence Ministry as saying it had broken up a CIA spying ring and captured 17 suspects.
A ministry official said some of those arrested had been sentenced to death, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The announcement comes after three months of spiraling confrontation with the West that began when new tighter US sanctions took effect at the start of May.
Last week Iran captured a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz after Britain’s Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar in July 4.—Agencies