Iran executes alleged CIA spy, another execution pending

Islamic Republic kills Defense Ministry worker it claimed spied for Americans, says nothing stopping second execution of man accused of spying for CIA and Mossad.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Iran announced Tuesday that it executed an Iranian convicted of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency and that it would proceed with the execution of a second Iranian alleged to have spied for both the U.S. and Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Reza Asgari had been an employee of the aerospace department of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was executed last week, the RFI news agency reported.

“In the last years of his service, he joined the CIA, he sold information about our missiles … to the CIA and took money from them,” said Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili. “He was identified, tried and sentenced to death.”

This is the first time that Iranian officials have named an IRGC commander in the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Organization as a CIA spy, RFI reported, an apparent reference to what would amount to the successful and damaging penetration by the CIA of a highly protected part of Iran’s defense establishment.

Esmaili also commented on the death sentence of another Iranian who was alleged to have spied for both the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency, saying Mahmoud Mousavi Majd would be executed as planned, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.

“The execution of the sentence has a process and it is not the case that the sentence was finalized to be executed immediately,” Esmaili said. “It is in the process of implementation and has not yet been implemented as of today, but it is one of our final binding rulings.”

“The security of our society and country is our red line, and those who want to endanger the security of citizens and the country can be sure that the judiciary will deal with those who create insecurity with firmness and authority,” Esmaili said.

Last month Esmaili said Mousavi Majd had disclosed “information on the location of martyred Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.”

Soleimani, who headed the IRGC’s Quds Force, was killed in an American drone attack in January. An NBC report a week after the attack said Israeli intelligence played a role in the U.S. strike.