Iran arrests MI6 spy

DUBAI: Iranian intelligence authorities have arrested a man on charges of spying for Britain’s MI6, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday.
The head of the Kerman region’s revolutionary court, Dadkhoda Salari, told the agency the suspect made contact with British agents 11 times in recent months, inside and outside the country.
According to Salari, the suspect has admitted his guilt and he is currently on trial.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London said: “We don’t comment on intelligence matters.”
The report, which Reuters could not verify, comes at a time when London and Tehran have been taking steps toward restoring diplomatic relations that were broken off after activists stormed the British embassy in Tehran in November 2011.
London announced the appointment of Ajay Sharma as non-resident charge d’affaires in Iran in November, and Sharma made his first visit to Iran in that role this month.
In November, six world powers made a breakthrough deal for Tehran to curb its nuclear program in return for limited sanctions easing.
Iran pulled out of expert-level talks with six world powers Friday to protest the expansion of US sanctions, saying the blacklisting of more entities violates the spirit of a groundbreaking agreement over Tehran’s atomic program.
In the first major hurdle to the interim deal reached last month in Geneva, the United States targeted more than a dozen companies and people on Thursday for evading sanctions against Iran.
It was an effort by the Obama administration to show it will enforce existing law even as it presses Congress to hold off on additional measures while world powers pursue a comprehensive nuclear deal with Tehran.
But the Iranians called the move “unconstructive and against good intentions,” and accused the US of sending mixed signals.
“This is a game of double standards,” an Irani official said.