TEHRAN, Feb 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In spite of reports that ties between Iran and Turkey are getting better, a leading Iranian official said Monday that a Turkish "spy" was arrested two months ago and jailed in Tehran.
Tehran judiciary chief Abbasali Alizadeh gave away the news without identifying the man or specifying the charges against him.
"Two months ago, a Turkish spy was arrested. He is in prison," Alizadeh said during a press conference at the Tehran office of the conservative English-language Tehran Times newspaper.
Alizadeh said the intelligence ministry was following up on the case.
He said the "spy" had been in possession of a dozen mobile phones, which he used alternately.
Relations between Tehran and Ankara are frequently tense, notably because of Israeli-Turkish rapprochement and Turkish incursions into northern Iraq and northwestern Iran against Kurdish separatists.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who traveled to Tehran earlier this month, affirmed at the end of his visit that relations had "entered a new phase."
Iranian and Turkish officials at a bilateral gathering in Ankara last week stressed the strong political will of their governments to further strengthen Tehran-Ankara political and economic ties.
The two sides agreed to have closer cooperation in official commercial transactions and in private sector business. They also stressed the need for closer bilateral cooperation in road haulage, including easing transit of goods on their common borders.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in February of last year during the 15th joint session of the economic cooperation commission in Ankara by the former Iranian Minister of Roads and Transportation Mohammad Hojjati and former Turkish Deputy Economy Minister Receb.
