Further to our story dated 23 June, the Iranian intelligence agency has now claimed that it has arrested seventeen CIA spies and sentenced some of them to death. No dates or names were given. It is not clear how many of these spies were arrested as a result of new operations or whether it includes old cases such as Jalal Hajizavar as well. This latest batch are supposed to have been rounded up between March 2018 and March 2019. They seem to have been employed in a suspiciously large number of different target areas: from nuclear to military to the private sector. Furthermore, in both April and June, IRNA, the state news agency, has made similar claims. It seems that this latest story is simply an amalgamation of old news or possibly represents a round up of long standing suspects simply to create a further news story to reassure Iranian citizens that their agencies are vigilant.
