Was Iranian negotiator arrested for spying?
Iranian media outlets have reported that a member of the nuclear negotiation team was arrested for spying for the British government, but Iranian officials have not confirmed the news.
Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafar Dowlatabadi announced Aug. 16 that Iran had arrested another dual national in the country. According to Dowlatabadi, the individual had links to British intelligence and was “active in the economic field.” Dowlatabadi did not share any other information about who the person is or when the arrest took place.
On Aug. 23, conservative website Nasim Online published a thinly sourced article claiming that the arrestee's name is Abdol Rasul Dori Esfahani, a member of the Iranian nuclear negotiation team. According to the article, Dori Esfahani was in charge of banking affairs during the nuclear talks and was arrested for selling economic information to foreign countries.
A January article in the Financial Tribune referred to him as the “financial and banking representative in Iran’s nuclear delegation.” Immediately after Nasim published its article, Iranian social media networks were flooded with pictures of Dori Esfahani at the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
Adding a twist to the story, on Aug. 24, Bank-e Mardom published an interview with Dori Esfahani in which he claimed he was not arrested. “I’m speaking to you now from the Central Bank and I have not been arrested,” he said. “All of my efforts during my life have been to serve Iran and promote my country and it will remain so.” Dori Esfahani said the reports of his arrest “are completely false," adding, "I do not know why and with what goal they are doing this.”
