Captured 'MI6 agent' is put on trial in Iran: Threat to thawing relations as suspect is accused of spying for UK intelligence



Unnamed man alleged to have confessed to working with the UK intelligence



Court official said he had admitted being in contact with British intelligence officers 11 times

State news outlet says the man is currently on trial for his actions



Latest in a series of spy claims made by both countries over last few years

In 2008, an Iranian-born interpreter to Britain's top general in Afghanistan was convicted of spying for Iran



Britain is facing a new diplomatic row with Iran after claims that an agent working for MI6 has been arrested in the Islamic state and has been put on trial for spying.



The man, who has not been named, is alleged to have confessed to working with the UK’s secret intelligence service in the south-eastern city of Kerman.



A senior Iranian court official said the alleged spy had admitted being in contact with four British intelligence officers 11 times, both inside and outside the country.



Spy row: MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall. Iran claims to have arrested an MI6 agent who is alleged to have confessed to working with the UK's secret intelligence service

Yesterday the state-backed news agency IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency) quoted Dadkhah Salari, head of the Kerman revolutionary court, who said that the man admitted making contact with British agents 11 times, and that he was now on trial.



Last night the Foreign Office refused to comment on the claims and the Iranian embassy in London did not respond to media enquiries.

Slarai told the agency: ‘Through the efforts of Iranian security forces, an MI6 spy has been arrested.'



The man, who has not been named, is alleged to have confessed to spying for the British

‘He has met British intelligence officers in person 11 times, both inside the country and abroad, and provided them with intelligence,’ Salari said.

But a Whitehall source said that the nationality of the man arrested had not been made clear and added: ‘The Iranians make these allegations from time to time so they can implicate their own citizens who are then executed as traitors.’



Iranian officials have said the man, in his fifties, was posing as a businessman while in the country, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Salari, who gave comments to the IRNA agency in Iran, said the man was instructed to work against the Iranian state.

He said: 'He has received certain instructions that would have enabled him to act against the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran.



‘He had been in touch with four intelligence officers and after receiving their instructions and training he has transferred their specific requested information to the country of their origin.



‘This spy has been captured after many months of complicated intelligence operations and with the help of the almighty God.’

The development comes just a day after Iran’s new envoy to Britain, Hassan Habibollah-Zadeh, held talks in London on his first visit since his appointment last month, which ended a two-year freeze in diplomatic relations between the two countries.



The British Embassy in Tehran was closed in late 2011 after hardliners overran the building. But the London talks followed a trip to Iran earlier this month by the UK’s new envoy to the country – the first by a British diplomat for two years.



Non-resident charge d’affaires Ajay Sharma said he had ‘detailed and constructive discussions’ about the UK’s relationship with Iran.



He also visited the site of the British Embassy in Tehran to assess the damage following the mob attack two years ago.



Foreign Secretary William Hague has spoken of relations between the two countries improving on a ‘reciprocal basis’.



Thawing relations between Tehran and the international community have also seen a temporary deal reached over its nuclear programme.



Iran last month agreed to curb some of its nuclear activities, in return for £4.3 billion in sanctions relief, after days of talks in Geneva.



Captured: The agent, who took months to track down, was arrested in the south-eastern city of Kerman

The country agreed to give better access to inspectors and halt some of its work on uranium enrichment for a six-month period.



There have been a series of spying claims made by both countries over the last few years.



In 2008, an Iranian-born personal interpreter to Britain’s top general in Afghanistan was convicted of spying for Iran and given a ten-year sentence.



Jailed: British soldier Daniel James (left) with General David Richards

Daniel James, 45, from Brighton, was found guilty of communicating information to an enemy by sending coded messages to an Iranian military attache in Kabul.



The Territorial Army corporal was working for the head of multi-national forces in Afghanistan, General David Richards, when he was arrested in 2006.

