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Iran claims massive counterespionage win

Iran claims it has dealt a "severe blow" to US intelligence in announcing the arrest of 17 individuals it claims worked with the CIA.
The lobby of the CIA Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia, August 14, 2008.      REUTERS/Larry Downing      (UNITED STATES) - GM1E48F0B7101

A fresh episode emerged in the intensifying tensions between Tehran and Washington after a top Iranian intelligence official declared a moment of triumph from a "severe blow" to US intelligence.

At a rare press conference in Tehran July 22, an official described as the chief of the counterespionage department of Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced that 17 Iranian individuals had been arrested for collaborating with the CIA. A number of those "spies" have been convicted of "spreading corruption on earth," a charge punishable by execution under the Islamic Republic's penal code.

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