TEHRAN: A former US marine, who also holds Iranian citizenship, has been sentenced to death by an Iranian judge for spying for the CIA, the Fars news agency reported.

Amir Mirzai Hekmati, 28, was ''sentenced to death for co-operating with a hostile nation, membership of the CIA and trying to implicate Iran in terrorism'', Fars reported yesterday.

"We have struggled to provide Amir with an attorney in Iran" ... Amir Mirzai Hekmati's, pictured, family. Credit:Reuters TV

Hekmati, who was born in the US to an Iranian immigrant family, was shown on Iranian state television in mid-December saying in fluent Farsi and English that he was a CIA operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry.

He had been arrested months earlier and was accused of receiving training at US bases in Afghanistan and Iraq before being sent to Iran. Iranian officials said his cover was blown by agents for Iran who spotted him at the US-run Bagram military air base in Afghanistan.