in april 2008 a senior british intelligence official flew to tel aviv israel to deliver an explosive revelation to his israeli counterparts britain had a mole in iran with highlevel access to the countrys nuclear and defence secrets the spy had provided valuable information and would continue to do so for years intelligence that would prove critical in eliminating any doubt in western capitals that iran was pursuing nuclear weapons and in persuading the world to impose sweeping sanctions against iran according to intelligence officials the identity of that spy has long been secret but on january 11 the execution in iran of a former deputy defence minister named alireza akbari on espionage charges brought to light something that had been hidden for 15 years akbari was the british mole akbari had long lived a double life to the public he was a religious zealot and political hawk a senior military commander of irans revolutionary guard and a deputy defence minister who later moved to london and went into the private sector but never lost the trust of irans leaders but in 2004 according to the officials he began sharing irans nuclear secrets with british intelligence he appeared to get away with it until 2019 when iran discovered with the assistance of russian intelligence officials that he had revealed the existence of a clandestine iranian nuclear weapons programme deep in the mountains near tehran according to two iranian sources with links to the revolutionary guard in addition to accusing akbari of revealing its nuclear and military secrets iran has also said he disclosed the identity and activities of more than 100 officials most significantly mohsen fakhrizadeh the chief nuclear scientist whom israel assassinated in 2020 akbari who was 62 when he was executed was an unlikely spy akbari who was born into a conservative middleclass family in the city of shiraz was a teenager when the iranian revolution in 1979 toppled the monarchy and war with iraq followed his mehdi brother said inflamed with revolutionary passion he and an older brother enlisted as soldiers and by the time he left the front lines almost six years later he was a decorated commander of the revolutionary guard returning to civilian life akbari ascended the ranks rising to deputy defence minister and holding advisory positions on the supreme national security council and other government bodies he forged close relationships with two powerful men fakhrizadeh and ali shamkhani head of the council whom he served as adeputy and an adviserin eight short videos aired by state television after his execution akbari detailed his spying activities and his recruitment by britain at a function at the british embassy in tehran but later in an audio message broadcast by bbc persian it had been obtained through his family akbari said the confessions were coerced in the videos akbari said he was recruited in 2004 and was told that he and his family would be given visas for britain the next year he