Iran detains UK deputy ambassador for alleged spying – media — RT World Information
A senior British envoy and two different foreigners have been apprehended on espionage accusations by Iranian navy authorities
The UK’s second-most senior diplomat in Tehran is reportedly amongst three foreigners who’ve been arrested by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for alleged espionage actions.
Giles Whitaker, deputy chief on the UK embassy in Tehran, stands accused of taking soil samples in a restricted space, in response to a report on Wednesday by Iranian state tv. Video footage launched by the IRGC purports to point out the veteran envoy, who was accompanied by relations, gathering soil samples in Iran’s central desert, the place missile workout routines had been being carried out.
Whitaker reportedly apologized for the infraction and was expelled from the realm. The media report didn’t specify whether or not he and the opposite suspects are nonetheless beneath arrest. The opposite detained males had been recognized because the husband of Austria’s cultural attaché in Iran and Maciej Walczak, a Polish college professor who was visiting the nation beneath a scientific change program.
The IRGC’s footage purported to point out Walczak and three colleagues gathering soil samples in a restricted space of Kerman province, the place one other missile take a look at was being carried out. The Polish professor is reportedly from Nicolaus Copernicus College, which the Iranian broadcaster stated is “related to the Zionist regime.”
The allegations come amid stalled talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which former US President Donald Trump canceled in 2018. Below the so-called Joint Complete Plan of Motion (JCPOA) – signed by Iran, the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany – Tehran agreed to limitations stopping nuclear weapons growth in change for sanctions reduction.
Wednesday’s Iranian media report recommended that the alleged spies had been making an attempt to assist construct a brand new case on “navy points of Iran’s file within the Worldwide Atomic Power Company.”
Whitaker has been deputy head of mission on the British embassy in Tehran since November 2018. His UK authorities profession has spanned greater than three many years and has included stints at embassies in Moscow, Berlin and Islamabad, in addition to at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The IRGC has arrested dozens of foreigners on espionage costs in recent times. Rob Macaire, then UK ambassador to Iran, was apprehended in January 2020 for allegedly inciting protests over the Iranian navy’s unintentional downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet.