A death sentence handed down against an Iranian convicted of spying for the United States has been upheld by the supreme court, the judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday.

Amir Rahimpour was convicted of conspiring to sell information on Iran's nuclear programme for large sums from the US Central Intelligence Agency, spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told a news conference broadcast by state television.

The judiciary announced in October last year that an Iranian had been sentenced to death for spying for the United States, but the spokesman said then that he would not release the convict's name until the sentence had been confirmed.

Tehran announced in July it had dismantled a CIA spy ring, arresting 17 suspects and sentencing some of them to death. 

Iranian authorities said the arrests were carried out between March 2018 and March 2019.

US President Donald Trump dismissed the claim as "totally false".  

                

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