Iran Airs confessions of arrested CIA spy

Iran broadcasted the confessions of a young spy of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who was tasked with infiltrating the Iranian intelligence apparatus. Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced on Saturday that it has arrested an agent of the CIA in Iran immediately after he started his spying activities inside the country. The arrested spy has been born in Arizona of US and has a track record of ten years of training as a professional spy. Amir Mirza Hekmati was employed by the US Army's intelligence section in August 2001. In his confession that was broadcasted by Iranian TV on Sunday night, Hekmati explained his secret mission in Iran. "I was graduated from high school in 2001 and decided to enter the US Army. It was in August 2001that I wore the US Army uniform and underwent different military trainings of the army," Hekmati said. The spy noted that after undergoing general and special military trainings, he was sent to a special university to learn Middle Eastern languages besides intelligence trainings. "When they realized that I know a little Persian and a little Arabic, they told me we want to send you to a university to learn Arabic language," Hekmati added. He pointed out that he then worked as intelligence analyst and entered Iraq in US Army uniform pursuing his main mission which was identifying people among Iraqi officials. "I studied the opinion of Iraqi officials regarding the US and the presence of US military in Iraq. Our goal was to pinpoint those Iraqi officials who were inclined toward the US and do something that in case of outbreak of any incident, they support US military. After sending our reports to US Army's intelligence department, security and intelligence officials held secret meetings with Iraqi officials and tried to establish closer ties with those officials," Hekmati said. The arrested spy further noted that right at the end of his several months of mission in Iraq, he was employed by some intelligence companies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) affiliated to the US Department of Defense. The mission of DARPA is strengthening the US Department of Defense's Cyber Security capabilities. "After DARPA, I was recruited by Kuma Games Company, a computer games company which received money from CIA to design and make special films and computer games to change the public opinion's mindset in the Middle East and distribute them among Middle East residents free of charge. The goal of Kuma Games was to convince the people of the world and Iraq that what the US does in Iraq and other countries is good and acceptable," Hekmati said. He noted that in July 2006, a woman contacted him and told that she was a government official. "After her contact, I successfully passed the psychological and medical tests, as well as lie detection tests before the same CIA agent contacted me and told me that I had to wait for their call," Hekmati said. He pointed out that then I was contacted by BAE Systems and I was informed that I had to return to Iraq as an intelligence analyst. "I learnt how to use secret systems and methods for gathering information from different places and individuals. During this period, CIA was trying to find a suitable cover-up for my important mission," Hekmati added. He further said that he was summoned to US and in Washington Hotel after one and half hours, a CIA agent informed him that he had to go to Iran for dealing with an intelligence project. "The CIA agent by giving detailed information prepared me for my big mission, while assuring me that given the cover-up provided for me I would not face any problem in the way of conducting my mission," the arrested spy further added, the Islamic republic news agency reported. Noting that during the process of conducting the project, he practiced a lot to become fully competent about the scenario, Hekmati noted that he was told that after being dispatched to Iran, he will become a source for Islamic Republic of Iran's Intelligence Ministry and provide the ministry with coordinated information within three weeks while receiving some amount of money in return before returning to US. "I was given access to the most secret data systems for gathering the required information before being sent to US Bagram Base in Afghanistan," he said. The arrested spy went on to say that from US Bagram Base to Kabul was 45 minutes and he worked at a spy center in Bagram. "I had a series of flights from Bagram, including a flight to Dubai where I stayed for two days and then I came to Tehran by plane afterwards." Hekmati added. He pointed out that the CIA's plot was to provide Iran's Intelligence Ministry with a series of apparently important classified information and then see how successful they were before contacting me. "However, Iranian officials found out the truth. They dismantled the CIA spy network in Iran by finding out about my mission," Hekmati concluded.