By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Tehran : Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has announced the arrest of several alleged US spies charged with an attempt to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country.
“The detainees were in contact with abroad through cyberspace networks,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Moslehi as saying Sunday.
“We arrested them after we obtained full information about their espionage activities,” Moslehi said.
The announcement comes as Tehran’s tensions with the West continue to escalate after Western powers threatened new sanctions against the Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
Iran retaliated by saying that it would block the strategic Strait of Hormuz where an estimated 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil passes.
Iran will hold parliamentary elections March 2.