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Iranian news reports American-born man sentenced to deathBy Alicia M. Cohn - 01/09/12 08:35 AM ET Iran has sentenced an American-born man to death on charges of spying for the CIA, according to reports on Monday. The Iranian government announced Monday it found Amir Mirza Hekmati guilty for "cooperating with the hostile country and spying for the CIA," a crime that carries a death sentence in Iran, according to the New York Times. The announcement of his sentence was made by Fars, Iran's semiofficial news agency. Fars also aired what seemed to be a confession by the alleged. According to...

Addressing pilgrims on November 5, 2011, just over two weeks after President Obama announced U.S. troops would withdrawal from Iraq, Iran's Supreme Leader cited American "failures" in Iraq and Afghanistan as proof that, "Today, the West, the United States and Zionism are weaker than ever before." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went further, declaring the American retreat was not enough. "So long as the American empire based in the White House has not been overthrown, we have work to do," he thundered. In the weeks since, the Islamic Republic has ratcheted up both its rhetoric and its defiance. Whereas Iranian authorities...

An Iranian court has convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio reported Monday, in a case adding to the accelerating tension between the United States and Iran. Iran charges that as a former U.S. Marine, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission. The radio report did not say when the verdict was issued. The 28-year-old former military translator was born in Arizona and graduated from high school in Michigan. His family is of...