Iran TV airs alleged US spy 'confession'
American- Iranian man 'confesses' to being double agent sent by CIA to infiltrate into Tehran intelligence agency
Iran's state TV broadcast video of a young man Sunday it claimed was a CIA and Mossad spy who sought to infiltrate Iran's secret services.
The TV identified the man, apparently in his late 20s, as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, an American-Iranian who received special training and served at US military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission.
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In the taped confession, Hekmati allegedly recalled how he got recruited into the secret service: "When (the US secret service) discovered that I speak a little Arabic and a little Persian, they said 'we want to send you to university to study Arabic. We can give you some work, and if you're successful, we'll continue to train you and give you more missions. This mission requires you to go to Iran.'"
Hekmati added, "They asked me if I was willing to accept the mission; I said I'll do it. I was told 'you'll be our contact at the intelligence office (in Iran); you'll go there for three weeks, transfer these documents, receive money and come back.'
"Their (US intelligence) plan was to initially burn some valuable information, to give it free so that (Iran's) Intelligence Ministry would see the good things and then would contact me," said Hekmati in a part of the confession that was broadcast.
The voice of an unnamed announcer on the video said US intelligence was certain that Iran's secret services would not ignore the data. Therefore, they provided a mix of correct and false information to mislead Iran's intelligence but tempt it at the same time.
"Iran's intelligence apparatus overcame the thirst and detected the deception, identified the intelligence corridors (Hekmati's alleged link to US intelligence) ... and contained the infiltration mission," it said.
Hekmati's alleged US Armed Forces ID card (Photo:AFP/ Iranian TV)
The TV showed a card with writing in English identifying the bearer as an "army contractor." It also showed several photos of the man identified as Hekmati, some of them in military uniform, together with US army officers.
There was no immediate comment from Washington.
The broadcast said Hekmati was born in Arizona in the US but was of Iranian descent.
In a statement released Saturday, Iran's Intelligence Ministry said its agents identified Hekmati at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Bagram is the main base for American and other international forces outside Kabul.
In the video broadcast on several Iranian TV channels Sunday, Hekmati was shown saying he entered the US Army after finishing high school in 2001 and received military and intelligence training.
Before beginning his mission to Iran, Hekmati said he served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq for two years. He said his key responsibility was to identify Iraqi politicians sympathetic to Americans.
His story could not be independently verified.
Iran periodically announces the capture or execution of alleged US or Israeli spies, and often no further information is released.
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