Iran says nuclear 'spy' arrested

Man said to have sold secrets to terror group which aims to take power in Iran.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
iran nuclear 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
iran nuclear 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Iran said Tuesday it has arrested a man on suspicion of selling Iran's nuclear secrets to an exiled Iranian opposition group, state radio reported. "The man transferred classified information, including a bulletin on nuclear activities, to the hypocrites (the armed opposition group the People's Mujahedeen)," state radio said. State radio didn't identify the man but said he had been working at the Iranian Parliament's Research Center, an advisory body to the parliament on foreign and strategic issues.
THE IRANIAN THREAT
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It did not say how the man obtained the information and it was not immediately clear whether an employee of the research center would have access to sensitive information on Iran's nuclear program. Labeled a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, the People's Mujahedeen seeks to overthrow Iran's ruling Islamic establishment. The group claims Iran is inciting sectarian strife in Iraq, its neighbor. The US State Department first said in 1997 that the group engaged in terrorist activities. Iran acknowledged in 2004 that it had arrested 10 military officers, nuclear workers and others on charges of revealing its nuclear secrets to Israeli and US intelligence agencies but said the information passed to the United States and Israel was "without value." Top lawmaker Ahmed Tavakoli confirmed the state radio report. "This person has been working in Parliament's Research Center since 2001. He was arrested by the Intelligence Ministry," Tavakoli told the semiofficial Fars news agency Tuesday. Tavakoli told Fars that the arrested man will stand trial but gave no date. The People's Mujahedeen participated in the 1979 ouster of the former shah of Iran. But it fell out with the clerical government and for years it fought Iran from Iraq with the backing of Saddam Hussein's regime. During the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US military briefly bombed camps until the group capitulated and agreed to disarm.