French, British, Swedish spies in Iran's detention: minister

Iran's Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib said on Sunday the country's intelligence services have detained spies from France, Britain, Sweden and other countries, some of whom have already been executed despite foreign pressures, reported Xinhua, quoting the official IRNA news agency.

He made the remarks at a gathering of the commanders of Iran's elite force Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Iranian capital Tehran.

He added Iran owed the success in arresting the spies to the coordination and cooperation among the members of the country's intelligence community.

Khatib noted that the enemies have been conspiring against the Islamic republic since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, adding that over 50 foreign intelligence services have designed "an Iran table" within their structures to counter the country.

In January, Iran executed former Iranian deputy defense minister Alireza Akbari on charges of "espionage on behalf of Britain," "corruption on earth" -- a term used by Iranian authorities to refer to a range of offenses including those related to violating Islamic codes -- and "acting against the country's internal and external security through the transfer of information" abroad, the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported.