Hearing begins for accused American spy
An Iranian court began hearings on Tuesday in the trial of a man who appeared on state television earlier this month and confessed to being a U.S. spy sent to infiltrate the intelligence services of Iran.
The man, identified as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, an Iranian-American born in Arizona in 1983, repeated his confession to the court, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. He said that he had been trained in languages and espionage after joining the U.S. Army following his high school graduation in 2001 and that he had been sent to Iran by the CIA.
"In this mission I was fooled by the CIA, and although I had entered Iran with a mission to infiltrate in the Islamic Republic of Iran's intelligence systems and to turn into a new source for the CIA, I didn't want to hit a blow to Iran," he was quoted as telling the judge.
In the television interview broadcast on Dec. 18, Hekmati described his mission as one in which he would first gain the trust of the Iranian authorities by handing over information, then penetrate the Iranian intelligence services.
The claims made in the interview and repeated before the Iranian court could not be verified. The CIA declined to comment on the matter when the interview was broadcast.
Accusations by Iran of espionage inside its borders are common, and Iran often announces that it has captured or executed people it says are spies for Western powers and Israel.
NEW YORK TIMES
about the writer
In interviews with the Star Tribune, Ryan described life before and after the Russian invasion in the country, where she’s worked to secure the border and help refugees flee war-torn areas.