Zavar worked for the Defence Ministry

Iran has executed a “Defence Ministry contractor” convicted of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency, semi-official ISNA agency reported on Saturday.

“The execution sentence was carried out for Jalal Haji Zavar, a contractor for the Defence Ministry’s aerospace organisation who spied for the CIA and the American government,” ISNA reported, quoting the Iranian military.

ISNA said he was convicted by Iran’s military court and that he was executed, at an unspecified time, at the Rajayi Shahr prison in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran.

The agency did not say when Zavar was arrested, noting however that his contract with the Defence Ministry had been terminated during the Iranian year 1389 (March 2010-2011).

He was identified as a spy by the Defence Ministry’s intelligence unit, ISNA said. During the investigation the suspect “explicitly confessed to spying for the CIA” in return for money, ISNA said, adding that “documents and espionage devices were found at his house”.

Zavar’s ex-wife was convicted of “involvement in espionage” and is serving a 15-year jail sentence, the agency said.

The report comes days after Iran said it had dismantled a “new” U.S. spy network in the country linked to the CIA, amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington.