The Iranian government executed a former member of its defense ministry last week who is alleged to have been a spy for the CIA, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Reza Asgari, who worked in the defense ministry’s airspace division until 2016, had been convicted of selling secret information to the U.S. government, the judiciary said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
“In the last years of his service, [Asgari] joined the CIA, he sold information about our missiles … to the CIA and took money from them,” Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in a statement, according to the AP. “He was identified, tried and sentenced to death.” (RELATED: Iran Issues Warrant For Trump’s Arrest Following The Killing Of Top Iranian General In January)
Iranians burn a U.S. flag during a demonstration against American “crimes” in Tehran on January 3, 2020 following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Major General Qasem Soleimani in a US strike on his convoy at Baghdad international airport. (Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran similarly executed Iranian citizen Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd in June, who the government accused of helping the U.S. kill Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in January.
An Iranian prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for President Donald Trump and more than 30 other Americans on June 29 for their role in the death of Soleimani. Trump ordered a military airstrike on Soleimani on January 3 after the Pentagon discovered that he was developing plans to attack Americans in Iraq.
Iran also executed Jalal Haji Zavar, a contractor for the defense ministry, last June after the government said he admitted in court to working with the CIA, Al Jazeera reported. Shortly after he was executed last year, the Iranian government said it had broken up a CIA spy ring in its country and captured 17 alleged spies, according to Reuters.
“The identified spies were employed in sensitive and vital private sector centers in the economic, nuclear, infrastructure, military and cyber areas,” the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Iranian military officials said they shot down an “intruding American spy drone” last summer as well, according to CNN.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment.
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