- Iran's Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said that Tehran
has detained at least 10 people on charges of passing secret information
on its nuclear program to the Israeli and the U.S. intelligence agencies.
-
- The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted
Yunesi as saying that the ten spies were arrested in the Iranian capital
and in the southern Hormozgan province during the Iranian year that started
March 21.
-
- "These people were spying for Mossad and CIA."
Younesi said, referring to the Israeli intelligence service and the Central
Intelligence Agency.
-
- Meanwhile, Israel Radio's Persian language program said
that only eight Iranians were detained on suspicion of having links to
the Mossad.
-
- The United States and Israel accuse Iran of covertly
developing a nuclear weapons program and want to refer Tehran?s nuclear
case to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
-
- The Islamic republic denies the allegations, insisting
that its nuclear program is mainly aimed at the peaceful generation of
electricity.
-
- Younesi said that they would not disclose the identity
of the spies before they stand trial but said that three of them worked
for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and that the rest were not government
employees.
-
- The minister also said that they are now in the hands
of the hard-line Revolutionary Court, which handles security crimes.
-
- Earlier this month, the Intelligence Ministry announced
that it detained a spy who had been pretending to work on nuclear centrifuges
in order to cast doubt on Iran?s recent deals to halt such activities.
-
- In 1993, 13 Iranians were arrested for similar spy charges.
The thirteen Iranians, mostly Jews, were tried in a closed court in 2000
and ten of them received prison sentences.
-
- The ten were later released before completing their prison
terms following intense pressure from Western governments.
-
- Last week, Israel's Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said
that the Jewish state would not only continue to demand the international
community to put more political pressures on Iran but would also plan "other
options" if such pressures do not result in desired outcomes.
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- http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_
story.asp?service_id=6378
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