Trump denies Iran has captured 17 CIA spies
President Trump said Iran's claim that it has captured 17 people spying for the U.S. is "totally false," as tensions continue to ratchet up between the two nations after the U.S. said it downed an Iranian drone last week.
On Monday, a senior Iranian intelligence officer told reporters in Tehran that Iran has detained CIA-trained Iranian nationals who were attempting to gather information on the country's military and nuclear capabilities.
"The rulings for these spies have been issued and a number of them will be executed as corruptors on Earth," said the intelligence officer, who was not identified. Iran's semiofficial news agency Fars describes him as the director-general of the intelligence ministry's counterespionage department.
The Iranian reports do not specify how many of the alleged spies were set to be executed, or when that might happen.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
On Monday morning, Trump categorically denied that there was any truth to the news out of Iran.
"The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot down drone) put out by a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing and has no idea what to do," the president said in a tweet. He added, "Their Economy is dead, and will get much worse. Iran is a total mess!"
According to Fars, the U.S. recruited spies at scientific conferences around the world, then made promises that included money, a job in the U.S. or medical aid. The Iranian nationals would allegedly be tasked with collecting information for the U.S.
The Fars report accuses the CIA of using a complicated system in which the U.S. agency would conceal communication tools and spyware in containers that look like rocks, which were planted in parks or in the mountains. The alleged Iranian collaborators would then recover the gear, along with false identification documents, according to the counterespionage official.
The alleged spies were captured when they tried to escape, the official said, according to Fars.
"Of course, those spies intended to have emergency escape, have met counterespionage contact instead of CIA contact at the border and were captured," he is quoted as saying.
The Fars news agency published several photos of people it said were "CIA officers handling spies" in Iran. Showing men in settings that range from restaurants to family photos, those photos also included images of LinkedIn pages and business cards that appear to belong to U.S. State Department officials. U.S. tensions with Iran have been escalating in the wake of the U.S. pulling out of the international agreement to try to stem Iran's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. has also recently ramped up sanctions against Iran. On Thursday, it said one of its Navy ships took down an Iranian drone — though Iran said all of its drones were safe.
The U.K. is also in the middle of an intense standoff with Iran, after Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.
This isn't the first time Iran has said that it has captured U.S. spies. According to The Associated Press, "in April, Iran said it uncovered 290 CIA spies both inside and outside the country over the past years."
Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.