Iran to execute spy for aiding the United States and Israel after his conviction was upheld for helping the US to locate a top Iranian general killed in a drone strike, Tehran said on Tuesday. This development is another story in the endless back and forth between the United States and Iran, which has been ongoing since the latter’s Islamic Revolution in 1979 and which hitherto shows no signs of cooling down.
#BREAKING
Iran announces it will "soon execute" the spy convicted of helping the U.S. kill top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani— Stephanie Myers (@_StephanieMyers) June 9, 2020
Mahmoud Mousavi Majd was convicted of spying on Iran’s armed forces, “especially the Quds Force and on the whereabouts and movements of martyr General Qasem Soleimani”, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in a news conference.
Iran to execute spy found guilty of aiding the US
Majd had been found guilty of receiving large sums of money from both the US Central Intelligence Agency and Israel’s Mossad, Esmaili said.
His sentence was upheld by Iran’s supreme court and would be “carried out soon,” the spokesman added.
Read more: Killing Soleimani was “Right Move”: Trump tells tales of general’s “Horrible Past”
Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and was killed in January in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport.
Iran retaliated by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq, but US President Donald Trump opted against responding militarily.
While the attack on the western Iraqi base of Ain Al-Asad left no US soldiers dead, dozens suffered brain trauma.
Iran to execute spy: second such sentence handed down to alleged spies
Majd “will face the consequences of his actions and his masters will also witness the determination, might and intelligence reach of the Islamic republic,” Esmaili said.
Iran in February handed down a similar sentence for Amir Rahimpour, another man convicted of spying for the US and conspiring to sell information on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Read more: Iranian scientist indicted by US arrives back in Iran
Tehran announced in December it had arrested eight people “linked to the CIA” and involved in nationwide street protests that erupted the previous month over a surprise petrol price hike.
Iran says it will execute 'CIA spy' who helped US target drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani 'very soon' https://t.co/9LbuvsaJkc #END
— Barbara Santana (@Barbara96913515) June 9, 2020
It also said in July 2019 that it had dismantled a CIA spy ring, arresting 17 suspects between March 2018 and March 2019, and sentencing some of them to death.
Trump at the time dismissed the claim as “totally false”.
Iran-US prisoner swaps: an ongoing exercise
Iran-US tensions have soared in recent years as Trump has pursued a campaign of “maximum pressure” against America’s sworn enemy.
Since unilaterally withdrawing the US from a key nuclear deal with Tehran in May 2018, Trump has hit it with sweeping sanctions.
The two sides have appeared to come to the brink of a direct conflict multiple times in the past two years.
Yet despite the tensions and having no formal diplomatic relations since 1980, Tehran and Washington have engaged in several prisoner swaps.
Tehran had exchanged Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian in January 2016 for seven Iranians held in the US, on the day the nuclear agreement entered into force.
In December, Iran freed Xiyue Wang, a US academic, in exchange for scientist Massoud Soleimani.
Americans and dual nationals currently known to be held by Iran include Siamak Namazi, his father Baquer and Morad Tahbaz.
Read more: US and Iran prisoner exchange: Iranian scientist released
Two others — Gholam Reza Shahini and Karan Vafadari — have reportedly been released on bail.
Most of the Iranians held in the US are dual nationals charged with evading sanctions by either exporting goods to Iran or using the US financial system.
The latest was this month when Iranian scientist Majid Taheri returned home as Iran released US Navy veteran Michael White, who had been detained in the country since his arrest in July 2018.
Taheri — an Iranian-American who had been working at a clinic in Tampa, Florida — had been held in the US for 16 months over violating US sanctions by sending a technical item to Iran.
He was freed on Thursday as Iran released US Navy veteran Michael White, who had been detained in the country since his arrest in July 2018.
Upon his arrival at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, Taheri was greeted by deputy foreign minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari.
State media published pictures of the pair speaking to journalists.
“I hope to see the release of (other Iranians imprisoned abroad) in the near future,” Ansari was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency, adding his ministry would do its best to achieve this.
Ansari said the scientist was freed after months of efforts by the ministry in coordination with Switzerland, whose embassy in Tehran handles US interests.
Taheri for his part thanked Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“I thank the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and dear officials, including Mr. Zarif, who worked hard, and other officials who took months to help release me, as an Iranian physician accused of circumventing US sanctions on medicine,” he was quoted as saying.
Taheri was the second scientist to have returned to Iran from the United States in the past week, after Cyrus Asgari flew home earlier.
AFP with additional input by GVS News Desk