Washington (Web Desk): US President Donald Trump on Monday rebuffed Iran's claim of breaking up a network of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spies was "totally false".
A few hours earlier on Monday, Iran announced it had captured 17 spies working for the CIA and sentenced some of them to death, deepening a crisis between the Islamic Republic and the West.
According to the Tasnim news agency, the spy network was discovered on June 18, and some of the people detained as a result have since been sentenced to death while others have received lengthy jail terms.
The intelligence official noted that the suspects were employed in private sector firms linked to the nuclear, military and cyber industries, among other sensitive sectors.
At the same time, he said there were no links found between the 17 people who were recently arrested, and that each of them was supervised separately by a CIA officer.
