A British man was detained in Cyprus on suspicion of spying for Iran
Rashad Sultanov, a 44-year-old citizen of the United Kingdom and Azerbaijan, was detained in Cyprus on suspicion of spying for Iran. According to investigators, he gathered intelligence on the British Akrotiri Air Base and passed it on to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to British police, the man was detained by Cypriot law enforcement on July 17. He is currently in custody, and extradition proceedings are underway. The investigation is being conducted as the first overseas case under the United Kingdom’s National Security Act.
Investigators believe that Sultanov conducted covert surveillance of the Akrotiri Air Base between May 11 and June 22 of last year, after which he passed the collected data to the IRGC. The Akrotiri base is one of two British military bases in Cyprus and was used during military operations in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
Source: The Jerusalem Post.
Prior to this, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi held telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of Bulgaria and Cyprus, warning them against making their infrastructure available to support U.S. military operations.
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