"Iranian Insider and British Spy: How a Double Life Ended on the Gallows" by Farnaz Fassihi and Ronen Bergman, for The New York Times.
First off, the article does not give any evidence that Mr Akbari was a SIS assets.
Anyhow, what's noteworthy from the article is:
1. "In 2019, Mr. Akbari flew to Iran for a final timeĀ after Mr. Shamkhani, theĀ Supreme National Security CouncilĀ head, told him the country needed him on an urgent nuclear and defenseĀ matter, his brother said." - SIS wouldn't this, unless, of course, Mr Akbari deemed it fit and agreed to it. If such was the casr, the SIS took a substantial risk and which didn't pan out.
2. "At some point, Iran discovered that Mr. Akbari was the source of the Fordo leak, according to theĀ two Iranians with connections to the Revolutionary Guards, information thatĀ was confirmed by Russian intelligence. It is unclear how Russia, a close ally of Iran, discovered the information." This is very noteworthy. If reliable, would not want to be doing the 2 year CI rotation when this was discovered.
3. "Iranian officials said on state media after his execution that they had him regularly log in to a computer provided by the British and communicate with his handlers to mislead them." - If that was the case, the SIS would have none we was compromised. If MrĀ Akbari was an asset, he would have been able to notify SIS without raising suspension.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/world/middleeast/british-spy-execution-iran.html
#Britian #Russia #Iran