An alleged CIA agent being held in Tehran is a US citizen of Iranian origin, state television said Sunday in a report showing the young man confessing to his "mission" to infiltrate the intelligence ministry. The channel named him as Amir Mirza Hekmati and said he was American of Iranian descent, born in the US state of Arizona.
It said he joined the US Army in 2001 and had a decade of intelligence training.
The report said Hekmati was sent to the US-run Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and given access to classified US intelligence before flying to Tehran to try to entice the Iranians with it and establish his value to them. "It was their plan to first burn some useful information, give it to them (the Iranians) and let the intelligence ministry think that this is good material and contact me afterwards," the clean-shaven young man, speaking fluent Farsi, said in the report.
But "Iranian networks monitoring activities in the Bagram base" discovered his presence and blew the operation, the channel said. The television showed an identity card declaring Hekmati to be an "Army Contractor" with access to the shops and leisure facilities at the Bagram base.
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