Man had received large sums of money for information on the Iranian missile program (File)
Tehran:
Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for the United States by selling information to the CIA about the Islamic Republic’s missile program, spokesman for the judiciary said on Tuesday.
Reza Asgari, an Iranian citizen, was executed last week, Gholamhossein Esmaili said on the official website of the judiciary Mizan Online.
He had worked for years in the aerospace division of the Ministry of Defense but retired about four years ago, added the spokesman.
Asgari had received large sums of money from the US Central Intelligence Agency “after his retirement by selling them the information he had regarding our missiles”.
“He has been identified, tried and sentenced to death,” said Esmaili.
He added that the death sentence imposed on Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, another Iranian convicted of espionage last month, should also be carried out.
Majd was charged with spying on the Iranian armed forces and helping the United States locate Qasem Soleimani, the main Iranian general later killed in an American drone strike in Baghdad.
Iran responded by firing a ballistic missile at American troops stationed in Iraq, but President Donald Trump chose not to respond militarily.
While the attack on the western Iraqi base of Ain Al-Asad did not kill any American soldiers, dozens suffered a head trauma.
Iran imposed a similar sentence in February on Amir Rahimpour, another man convicted of spying for the United States and of conspiracy to sell information on the Iranian nuclear program.
Tehran announced in December that it had arrested eight people “linked to the CIA” and involved in nationwide street protests that erupted in the previous month following a surge in oil prices.
He also said in July 2019 that he had dismantled a CIA spy network, arrested 17 suspects between March 2018 and March 2019 and sentenced some of them to death.
At the time, Trump dismissed the complaint as “completely false”.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
