IRAN:IRAN YESTERDAY sentenced a businessman to death after a court convicted him of spying on the country's military and nuclear programme for Israel.
Ali Ashtari (45) was identified by Iranian media as the manager of a company selling communications and security equipment to the government.
Ashtari had been paid by the Mossad secret service and had caused "irreparable damage", it was reported. Israel denied any knowledge of the case, which is standard procedure in espionage.
The news comes at a time of escalating tensions between the two countries, with Israel, an undeclared nuclear power, making clear it will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, while Tehran insists on its right to nuclear energy.
Iran has repeatedly rejected international demands - and incentives - to halt the enrichment of uranium, which can be used for power generation and military purposes, and is facing a third raft of UN sanctions to force it to comply.
The little detail available about the Ashtari case suggests it may have involved a clandestine plan to sabotage Iran's nuclear programme.
The semi-official Fars news agency quoted the defendant as telling a revolutionary court that three Israeli agents introduced themselves as bank representatives looking for a commercial partnership. Two of the agents, named Jack and Tony, met him in Thailand and Turkey and provided him with a laptop computer for coded communications as well as satellite phones, Fars said.
Fars said the Mossad operatives gave Ashtari $50,000 to supply internet cables and satellite phones to "special customers" in the hope that Israel could intercept their communications.
Intriguingly, another Iranian news agency quoted a senior, unnamed Iranian counter-intelligence official as saying Ashtari had business contacts with Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, as well as "some defence and military centres".
Iran's Press TV reported that the verdict on Ashtari, who was arrested 18 months ago, required supreme court approval.
The defendant has the right to appeal. - ( Guardian service)