Iran sentences ex-official to death over alleged UK spying
An Iranian state-linked news agency says a former senior defense official has been sentenced to death after being convicted of spying for Britain DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iran has sentence d a former senior defense official to death after convicting him on charges of spying for Britain, state-linked media reported on Wednesday. The judiciary said Ali Reza Akbari, who was deputy defense minister until 2001, was a “key spy” for British intelligence, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported. It said Iranian intelligence unmasked the spying by feeding him false information. Tasnim also reported that he had spied on past nuclear talks between Iran and Western powers. Akbari had served as deputy defense minister under President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who had pushed for improved relations with the West. For several years, Iran has been locked in a shadow war with the United States and Israel, marked by covert attacks on its disputed nuclear program. The killing of Iran...