IRANIAN-CANADIAN FEARED LOCKED UP IN IRAN FOR SPYING.

TEHRAN • A member of Iran’s team of nuclear negotiators that struck the 2015 deal with world powers has been sentenced to five years in prison on espionage charges, a semi-official news agency reported Wednesday.

While unnamed in the report, the only negotiator known to be facing criminal charges is dual Iranian-Canadian national Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani.

His detention, if confirmed, would make him the latest dual national to be arrested in Iran, part of what a UN panel of experts has called an “emerging pattern” since the atomic accord.

The sentencing was only reported by Iran’s Tasnim news agency, which is believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which is allied with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Guard has been involved in nearly every case involving dual nationals being detained.

“The conviction of a member of the nuclear negotiation team who has been arrested before and released on bail has been confirmed in the Tehran provincial appeals court,” the short report read. “This person has been sentenced to five years in prison.”

In August 2016, hardline news outlets said authorities detained Esfahani, who reportedly worked as a member of a parallel team focusing on lifting economic sanctions against Iran as part of the nuclear deal. He was later granted bail, which is rare in Iran for those accused of having committed a serious crime.

A person with the same name was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario from 1986 to 2011, a spokesman confirmed on Wednesday.

Esfahani’s family could not be reached for comment.