TEHRAN - An Iranian court sentenced the CIA "spy", Amir Hekmati, to death, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday.

Hekmati was charged with "cooperating with hostile government of the US, membership in the CIA and an attempt to accuse Iran of terrorism," said the report. ? ?

In the court session, Hekmati confessed that he intended to penetrate Iran's intelligence systems to help the CIA and said he was deceived by the US intelligence agency, according to Fars.

Fars did not say when the court had been held to hear the defendant.

On December 17, Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced that it had arrested a US spy in the country. The ministry said in a statement that the spy is a CIA analyst tasked with infiltrating Iran's intelligence apparatus.

On December 20, a US government official denied the arrested US citizen is a spy.

When asked if the US government believed that Amir Hekmati has been falsely accused of espionage, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said "we do."