Iran demands evidence in Azerbaijan treason case

Iran on Sunday demanded Azerbaijan's security agency to provide evidence after it said more than a dozen people convicted of treason and sedition passed information about Western interests to Iranian intelligence. Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry said Saturday that the 15 people passed information on US, British and Israeli activities in the former Soviet republic to Iran. The Islamic republic's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday that the allegations were "baseless." "They raised a delusory accusation against Iran and made propaganda based on it," Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters here during his weekly news briefing. Hosseini said it would be better if Azerbaijan would "provide evidence" to Iran and accused "foreign hands" of wanting to disturb "good relations" between the two countries.