A dual national member of the negotiating team that reached a landmark nuclear deal with the US and world powers before being arrested last year, has been formally charged said judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who was quoted by the judiciary’s website, Mizan. The arrest was announced last August, when Mohseni Ejei said that an unidentified individual was a “spy who had infiltrated the nuclear team”. He gave no further details about the defendant, but news reports claim he is Iranian-Canadian.
Mohseni Ejei also told reporters for Mizan that an unnamed Iranian-American was also arrested for defrauding people seeking U.S. residence of $2.6 million, “A dual national holding Iranian and American citizenship has been arrested recently, who had swindled many Iranians, taking (money) … to fix their residence,” he said.
Dual nationals from the United States, Britain, Austria, Canada and France have been detained and imprisoned over the past year on charges including espionage and collaborating with hostile governments.
When Iran began opening up to the West following the 2015 nuclear deal, it alarmed Iranian hardliners. Warnings about “Western infiltration”, led to the arrests of several dual nationals. Because Iran does not recognize dual nationality, Western embassies are prevented from seeing individuals who have been detained.
