Iran detains foreigners for ‘spying’, UK denies its official held

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained several foreigners, including Britain’s second most senior envoy in Tehran, for alleged acts of spying such as taking soil samples in restricted areas, state television reported yesterday.

Reuters reports that it did not say whether those detained were still under arrest. The UK Foreign Office said claims that its Deputy Ambassador Giles Whitaker had been detained were “completely false”.

“These spies were taking earth samples in Iran’s central desert where the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace missile exercises were conducted,” state TV said.

State TV aired footage that it claimed was Whitaker and a number of foreigners taking earth samples in Iran which coincided with a missile test in the Islamic Republic’s southern Kerman province.

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