Iran Says It Captured 17 CIA Operatives, Sentencing Some to Death

Iran is holding 17 people it claims were spies working for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), with some having been sentenced to death, Iranian media reported on Monday. “The identified spies were employed in sensitive and vital private sector centers in the economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber areas… where they collected classified information,” an Intelligence Ministry statement read on state television said. In June, the Islamic Republic said it had dismantled a spy network linked to the CIA and arrested several agents. It is unclear if the June arrests are related to this case. That month, Tehran executed a former Defense Ministry contractor on charges of spying for the CIA after an investigation was said to have discovered documents and spying equipment in his home. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed Iran’s announcement, saying in an interview with the Fox News Channel: “The Iranian regime has a long history of lying…. I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions that they’ve taken.”