Tehran has arrested an alleged US Central Intelligence Agency spy of Iranian origin before he could complete his mission of infiltrating the intelligence ministry, media quoted the ministry as saying on Saturday. “Based on the scenario, he was supposed to infiltrate the intelligence ministry … and feed it deceptive information on a large scale and spy on it,” said a statement reported by the ISNA news agency.
“The Iranian-origin CIA agent received complex training, had worked as an analyst and also worked with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the statement added, without identifying him. The man was first identified at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and arrested in Iran, the statement said, without identifying the man or saying when he was seized. Several times in the past, Iranian officials have announced the arrest of suspected spies for the United States, but provided little information to substantiate the detention or allegations.
Meanwhile Iran has prepared for “the worst case scenario” to circumvent a toughening of Western sanctions targeting its financial sector and oil industry, its foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in an interview published Saturday. “We are not really worried,” Salehi told the official IRNA news agency. “Appropriate responses have been prepared for the worst case scenario, and we have devised a road map” to circumvent new sanctions.
The remarks came after the US Congress approved a tough new proposal to impose an embargo against Iran’s oil exports and to cut off its central bank from the world financial system, effectively seeking its collapse. The European Union is considering similar measures of its own. Salehi did not elaborate how the “road map” would envisage dealing with strengthened Western economic sanctions in response to Tehran’s refusal to curb its controversial nuclear programme.
But, he said, Iran has managed to “circumvent” Western and UN sanctions since the 1979 Islamic revolution, while acknowledging that “sanctions have their effect.
