Iran says 5 foreign spy networks busted

APD NEWS

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Iran announced on Tuesday the dismantlement of five spying teams working for the U.S., Israel and some European states.

"After continuous strikes on the espionage services of imperialism, a number of agents linked to those intelligence services were identified and arrested," the official IRNA news agency quoted a senior Iranian intelligence official as saying.

These agents intended to spy on the matters related to Iran's nuclear, political, economic, military or infrastructure projects, "by using various complicated spying methods," the official said.

The spies were working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Israel's Mossad and some European countries' intelligence services, the official added.

The agents' activities were related to the "recent espionage dossiers," as well as sabotage of infrastructures and projects, increasing unjust embargos, and preventing Iran from acquiring modern knowledge and technology.

Another goal of the spies was to create frictions between Iran and countries friendly to Iran, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaeili said Tuesday that two spies working for Germany, Israel and the United Kingdom (UK) have been sentenced to 10 years in jail each.

One spy, named Masoud Mossaheb, provided Germany and Israel with "intelligence on Iran's missiles, nuclear and nanotechnology, as well as medical fields," Esmaeili was quoted by the IRNA as saying.

Another spy, Shahram Shirkhani, was convicted of espionage activities and providing the UK with classified information on Iranian banks, he added.