Iran’s former deputy defence minister was a British spy, claims NYT report

Tehran: Iran's former deputy defence minister, Alireza Akbari handed over his country’s ‘ strategic information including nuclear secrets’, to British intelligence service M 16, New York Times( NYT) reports drawing information from intelligence officials.

Iran charged Akbari and executed him in January this year, which the British authorities called ‘a barbaric act’ adding that ‘it would not go unpunished', according to NDTV based on NYT report.

A British intelligence official visiting Israel in 2008 told Israeli officials that they had a mole in Iran with access to the nation’s nuclear secret, NYT reports.

Subsequently, the British official handed information to Israel on Iran building nuclear weapons.

A year later, US president Barack Obama shocked the world revealing about Iran’s nuclear project.

Akbari reportedly went on to share with M16 activities and details of more than 100 Iranian officials including the nation’s nuclear scientist ‘Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’.

Fakhrizadeh, who is known as the ‘father of the Iranian bomb’ was later killed by Israel in 2020.

The report by New York Times is drawn from interviews with ‘current and former intelligence official from the US, UK, Israel, Germany and Iran’.

Iran arrested Akbari, who is known to be a veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, between March 2019 and March 2020.

Later, eight short videos that the state media aired after his arrest showed Akbari confessing to spying activities and recruitment by Britain.

Akbari reportedly admitted to have been recruited by M16 in 2004 offering him and his family visa for Britain.

A year later, Akbari travelled to Britain and received $2.4 million from his handler which he used to set up front companies in Austria, Spain and Britain as cover for meetings with handlers.

Aside from being Iran’s deputy defence minister, Akbari was an advisor to the ‘commander of the navy’ and headed a defence research centre.