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Report: Iran dismantles a US-backed spy network

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-19 18:45

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's state television says the government has dismantled an alleged US-backed spy network that was seeking to topple the country's Islamic regime.

An Iranian soldier stands guards on the Karun River in the southern Iranian port of Khorramshahr, 1,000 km (600 miles) south of Tehran, in the Iran-Iraq border, on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2008. Iran's state television says the government has dismantled an alleged US-backed spy network that was seeking to topple the country's Islamic regime. [Agencies]

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Monday's report quotes an unnamed intelligence official as saying the main members of the network have been identified and detained.

The official, identified as the general director of the counterespionage section of Iran's Intelligence Ministry, says the CIA spent about $32 million on the plot but did not provide further details.

Iran's official news agency reported Saturday that a Tehran court sentenced four Iranians to jail for trying to overthrow the government with the alleged support of the US State Department and the CIA.