ALLEGED SPY SENTENCED TO DEATH

ISTANBUL An Iranian court has sentenced a man to death for allegedly spying for U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies on a top military commander who was recently assassinated, a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary said Tuesday.

The spokesman, Gholamhossein Esmaili, said the accused provided information on the whereabouts of a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, pictured, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January.

It was unclear how the man — identified as Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, an Iranian national — would have had access to the commander and the details of his travel itineraries. Soleimani was targeted as he left the Baghdad airport.

Esmaili on Tuesday did not directly link the intelligence allegedly gathered by Majd to Soleimani’s killing and a statement later by the judiciary said the conviction was not linked to the assassination and in fact his arrest was in October 2018, according to Reuters.