DUBAI: Iranian prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for several suspects arrested last year for spying for the United States in military and nuclear bodies, state media reported on Tuesday, as tensions rise with Washington over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran said in August it had arrested “tens of spies” in state bodies, many of whom were dual nationals.
In June, Iran said it executed a former contract employee of the defense ministry aerospace body on charges of spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said an unspecified number of suspects, arrested less than a year ago, faced possible death sentences in military tribunals, state television reported.
“Two of the defendants, who were not military, have received long prison terms,” Esmaili added, without giving details.
Iran announced on Monday it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under a 2015 nuclear deal, a move denounced by President Donald Trump as “playing with fire” amid concerns about deepening US-Iranian confrontation.
The initiative marked Tehran’s first major shift from the provisions of the pact since the United States pulled out of it more than a year ago.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the move was not a violation of the accord, arguing that Iran was exercising its right to respond to the US walkout.
Iran says several suspected US spies face possible death sentences
Iran says several suspected US spies face possible death sentences
- Iranian officials said some of the arrested held dual citizenship
- A defence ministry former contract employee was executed last year on charges of spying
UNESCO fears for fate of historical sites during Iran war
- “UNESCO is deeply concerned by the first impact that the hostilities are already having on many world heritage sites,” Assomo said
- Tehran’s Golestan palace, damaged in US–Israeli strikes, is testimony to the grandeur of Iran’s civilization in the 19th century
PARIS: UNESCO said it is deeply concerned about the fate of world heritage sites in Iran and across the region, after Tehran’s Golestan palace, often compared to Versailles, and a historic mosque and palace in Isfahan were damaged in the war.
The United Nations’ cultural agency on Wednesday urged all parties to protect the region’s outstanding cultural sites, saying four of Iran’s 29 world heritage sites had been damaged since the start of the US and Israeli war with Iran.
“UNESCO is deeply concerned by the first impact that the hostilities are already having on many world heritage sites,” Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the World Heritage Center, told Reuters, adding he was also concerned for sites in Israel, Lebanon and across the Middle East.
Tehran’s Golestan palace, damaged in US–Israeli strikes, is testimony to the grandeur of Iran’s civilization in the 19th century, he said.
The palace was chosen as the Persian royal residence and seat of power by the Qajar family and shows the introduction of European styles in Persian arts, according to the UNESCO website. The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, held a coronation ceremony there in 1969.
“We sometimes even compare it with the Versailles Palace in France, for instance, and it has suffered, unfortunately, some damage. We don’t know the extent for the moment. But clearly, with the images that we have been able to receive, we can confirm ... it has been affected,” Eloundou Assomo said.
Photos of the interior of the palace have shown piles of smashed glass and shards of wood on the floor, and shattered woodwork.
Isfahan was one of Central Asia’s most important cities and a key point on the Silk Road trading route. Its Masjed-e Jame (Jameh Mosque) is more than 1,000 years old and shows the development of Islamic art through 12 centuries.
Buildings close to the buffer zone of the prehistoric sites of the Khorramabad Valley have also been damaged, UNESCO said.
UNESCO has shared coordinates of key cultural sites to all parties, Eloundou Assomo said, and was monitoring damage.
“We are calling for the protection of all sites of cultural significance ... everything that tells the history of all the civilizations of the 18 countries in the region,” he said.
