Iran details destroying CIA spy network in world first

TEHRAN:- Iran's Intelligence Ministry details how it recently delivered an unprecedented destructive blow to an integrated network of operatives serving the US spy agency via the Internet.

Iran's top security official had announced the security operation on Monday. On Tuesday, however, IRNA cited the Ministry's director-general for counterintelligence as recounting the operation in detail.

"The Ministry recently detected and destroyed a big internationally-active spy network of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a world first," said the unnamed official.

"This is the first time that an expansive active American espionage network operating on the Internet platform across the international arena has been detected," the official added, referring to the cyberspace as the area most used by the United States to compromise others' interests.

Iran's intelligence minister says the country has identified 290 CIA agents across different countries, forcing the US to form a special committee to reassess its operations.

The operation saw Iranian intelligence experts infiltrating the channels used by the CIA across the Internet for safe communication with its spies, the official noted, adding that the agency would use the cover of apparently-irrelevant websites in order to enable the communication.

The intelligence command enabled the Ministry to identify all the websites and the agents linked to them, according to the official.

The agents, each of whom were assigned a specifically-designated website and communication channel, would act against the interests of the countries, where they were operating in, including the Islamic Republic, the official noted, and referred to the exposed agents as "professional and special sources" for the CIA.

Once harvesting the information, Iran entrusted it with the countries, with which it shares intelligence, according to the official, who said this interaction led to entrapment of more operatives elsewhere in the world.

Big intel. loss for the US

"The Americans sensed danger after this development, finding their spies to be subject to threats. Therefore, they put out an international recall, taking their spies of various nationalities out of the targeted countries," the director-general stated, adding, "As a result, they lost a big intelligence network."

Some of the identified operatives have been referred to judicial authorities, some have been executed, and others were still being used in favor of intelligence goals, said the official.

"American spies would operate in industrial, military, nuclear, cyberspace, economy, and infrastructure," the source specified.

New operation underway

The Ministry has dealt a blow to a new network after finding clues across the US's intelligence chains and identifying new people serving America's spying activities, the official said.