Iran claims it dismantled a US cyber espionage network
Iran said on Monday it had exposed a large cyber espionage
network it alleged was run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and
that several US spies had been arrested in different countries as the result of
this action.
US-Iran tensions are growing following accusations by US
President Donald Trump’s administration that Tehran last Thursday attacked two
oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a vital oil shipping route. Iran denies having
any role.
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council,
Ali Shamkhani, said on Monday: “One of the most complicated CIA cyber espionage
networks that had an important role in the CIA’s operations in different
countries was exposed by the Iranian intelligence agencies a while ago and was
dismantled.”
“We shared the information about the exposed network with
our allies that led to the identification and arrest of CIA intelligence
agents,” Shamkhani was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster IRIB.
He did not specify how many CIA agents were arrested and in
what countries.
Shamkhani said without elaborating that some information
about the case had been released by the United States, so Iran could now
publish the information for the sake of public awareness.
Trump last year withdrew the United States from a 2015
international nuclear deal with Iran, and is ratcheting up sanctions seeking to
end Iran’s international sales of crude oil and strangle its economy.
The United States has deployed a carrier strike group and
bombers and announced plans to deploy 1,500 troops to the Middle East,
prompting fears of a conflict.