Iran's top court has confirmed a death sentence for a man convicted of spying for the CIA and trying to pass on information about the country's nuclear program. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said Amir Rahimpour would be executed soon. "Amir Rahimpour, who was a CIA spy and got big pay and tried to present part of Iran's nuclear information to the American service, had been tried and sentenced to death," Esmaili said. In a separate case, two people working for a charity were sentenced to prison terms of 10 years for spying and five years for acting against national security on similar charges, Esmaili said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Speaking at a press conference, Esmaili said the names of the two individuals working for a charity would not be released yet because their sentences had not been finalized. He also did not provide information about their nationalities. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and the judiciary prosecutes dual citizens as Iranians. Last summer, Tehran announced it had broken up a CIA spy ring of 17 people and that some had been sentenced to death. The CIA did not immediately comment on Esmaili's remarks. After Iran's announcement last summer. President Donald Trump tweeted: "The report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth." In the past, Iran has sentenced alleged US and Israeli spies to death. The last such spy executed was Shahram Amiri, who defected to the US at the height of Western efforts to thwart Tehran's nuclear program. When he returned in 2010, he was welcomed by government leaders and even went on the local talk-show circuit before mysteriously disappearing. He was hanged in August 2016, the same week that Iran executed a group of militants and a year after the country agreed to a landmark accord to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Tensions remain high between Iran and the US since Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Tehran's nuclear deal. — Agencies
