At a regular briefing, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the United States has seen the related reports and the State Department was working through the Swiss protecting powers in Tehran to confirm the veracity of those reports.
"If true, we strongly condemn such a verdict and will work with our partners to convey our condemnation to the Iranian government, " he said.
The statement came after Iran`s semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday that an Iranian court had sentenced the "CIA spy," Amir Hekmati, to death.
U.S.-Iranian Hekmati was charged with "cooperating with hostile government of the U.S., membership in the CIA and an attempt to accuse Iran of terrorism," said Fars.
In the court session, Hekmati confessed that he intended to penetrate Iran`s intelligence systems to help the CIA and said he was deceived by the U.S. intelligence agency, according to Fars. Fars did not say when the court had been held to hear the defendant.
Carney said the espionage allegations against Hekmati were " false," adding that the Iranian regime "has a history of falsely accusing people."
"We call upon the Iranian government to grant the Swiss protecting power immediate access to Mr. Hekmati, grant him access to legal counsel, and release him without delay," he said.
When asked if the Obama administration will act to intervene and protect Hekmati, Carney declined to speculate about that, saying "we take this matter very seriously and we are addressing it in the appropriate manner."
At the State Department, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland delivered the similar message, condemning the verdict "in the strongest terms" and describing the charges as "a fabrication."
On Dec. 17, Iran`s Intelligence Ministry announced that it had arrested a U.S. spy in the country. The ministry said in a statement that the spy is a CIA analyst tasked with infiltrating Iran`s intelligence apparatus. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
