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.