Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have arrested several foreigners, including Britain’s second most senior envoy in Tehran, over alleged spying acts such as taking soil samples in restricted areas, the Fars news agency and state television said on Wednesday.
“The Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence service identified and arrested diplomats from foreign embassies who were spying in Iran,” Fars said, noting that the British ambassador had subsequently been expelled from the country.
However, according to state television, the Briton was expelled from “the area” where the diplomats had been held in central Iran.
Footage on state television showed Giles Whitaker and his family in central Iran, where Britain’s second most senior envoy in Tehran appeared to be collecting ground samples. Apparently, it was near an area where a missile test was conducted.
“Whitaker was expelled from (the area) after apologising,” Reuters mentioned state TV report as saying.”These spies were taking earth samples in Iran’s central desert where the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace missile exercises were conducted,” as per state TVState TV identified one of those detained as the husband of Austria’s cultural attaché in Iran. Also shown was a picture of Maciej Walczak, a Polish university professor who was reportedly on a tourist trip to Iran.Maciej Walczak and three colleagues were allegedly filmed collecting earth samples in another area after visiting Iran on a scientific exchange programme, according to the TV report. According to the report, their sample collection coincided with a missile test in Kerman, an Iranian province in the south.
Several foreigners and dual nationals have been arrested by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in recent years, mostly for espionage and security-related offences.
According to rights groups, the Islamic Republic may have been faking security charges in order to win concessions from other nations. The Iranian government denies arresting people for political reasons.
