Iran says arrests atomic spies

Reuters: Iran has arrested more than 10 people this year for spying on its atomic programme for Washington and Israel, three of them working within the state nuclear programme, the intelligence minister says.
Iran said in August it had arrested dozens of spies, several of them for nuclear espionage, but Ali Yunesi gave further details about their alleged paymasters. Reuters

TEHRAN – Iran has arrested more than 10 people this year for spying on its atomic programme for Washington and Israel, three of them working within the state nuclear programme, the intelligence minister says.

Iran said in August it had arrested dozens of spies, several of them for nuclear espionage, but Ali Yunesi gave further details about their alleged paymasters.

“More than 10 spies have been arrested this year; three of them staff of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran,” he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday.

Yunesi added the others were not members of a government body.

“They have been working for the CIA and Mossad and were arrested in Tehran and Hormuzgan,” the mid-ranking cleric added. Hormuzgan is a province in southern Iran.

Israel and the United States accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies, saying it needs nuclear power stations to meet booming domestic electricity demand.

Iran has been criticised for failing to make full disclosures on its nuclear technology and several revelations on its atomic projects are believed to have come through intelligence sources.