Iranian authorities arrested 17 of the country's nationals, claiming they were spies for the CIA. The US denies the allegations. At the same time, Britain is taking steps to ensure the maritime safety of ships passing through the Straits of Hormuz.
Iran claims the 17 people who were arrested were working for the CIA, collecting information and placing monitoring devices in nuclear and military facilities. According to Tehran, none of the succeeded in their mission. Iranian authorities said to reporters that some of those arrested have been sentenced to death, while others will face time in prison, but did not provide further details.
The US dismissed Iran's claims, with president Donald Trump saying that the report is ''totally false''.
At the same time, Britain is in the process of conducting talks with a number of other countries, in order to protect vessels and their crews that pass from the Strait of Hormuz.
Britain's Foreign Minister, Jeremy Hunt said that their aim is to ''put together a European-led maritime protection mission to support safe passage of both crew and cargo in this vital region.''
''We have had constructive discussions with a number of countries in the last 48 hours and we will discuss later this week the best way to complement this with recent U-S proposals in this area," said Mr. Hunt.
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