The British authorities paid over €2 million to Alireza Akbari, Iran's former deputy defense minister, for spying for London, the Iranian intelligence ministry said, Tasnim reported. According to the agency, the former official, who was executed in mid-January, also received real estate in several European Union states from the British.

"When the British made Akbari a spy in two stages, they planned his escape from Iran, paid him more than two million euros and provided him with aristocratic houses in Vienna, London and southern Spain," the Iranian intelligence ministry said.

As indicated in department, besides money and the real estate, Akbari has received from Great Britain a residence permit, and then the British passport. At the same time, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence stressed that the former official had leaked information to London, in particular, on how Tehran was struggling with the restrictive measures of the West.