[Omah]

"These Covert CIA Officers had no right to be there."

Iran has arrested 12 people it claims were working undercover for the CIA inside the Islamic republic, further raising tensions in its already strained relationship with the US.

On Wednesday, the Irna state news agency quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that the spies it claimed to have arrested had been gathering intelligence from Iran's security and military units as well as its highly sensitive nuclear programme.

"The main mission of this act of espionage was related to Iran's progress in the fields of nuclear technology and also military and security activities," said Parviz Sorouri, a member of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, in quotes carried by Irna.

Sorouri told the agency that the network had been uncovered by an operation involving the Iranian ministry of intelligence. "The US and Zionist regime's espionage apparatuses were trying to damage Iran both from inside and outside with a heavy blow, using regional intelligence services," he said. "Fortunately, with swift reaction by the Iranian intelligence department, the actions failed to bear fruit."

Sorouri's comments follow reports on Monday that Iran and the Lebanese Shia militia, Hezbollah had identified alleged CIA informants.

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said in June that his group had uncovered at least two CIA informants within its ranks but his claims were met with scepticism at the time. But former US officials told Reuters this week that those arrested were indeed working for the CIA. The officials claimed the agents were "believed to be local recruits" working for the CIA rather than US citizens.

Iran did not specify the nationality of the individuals it has arrested and the CIA has declined to comment on the recent reports, saying "it does not, as a rule discuss allegations of operational activities".

I rather think that, were those arrested US nationals, they would have been put up against a wall and ..... photographed .....