On Sunday, the Iranians announced via official state television that they’d captured an American spy. At least one part of that claim is true: The State Department has confirmed that Amir Mirza Hekmati is in fact American, though totally not a spy, and promptly demanded his release. And Ali Hekmati, Amir’s father, who might or might not know the whole truth, has denied that his son is a spy.
This isn’t to say that this whole thing is completely non-suspicious:
>Ali Hekmati said his son was a former Arabic translator in the U.S. Marines who entered Iran about four months ago. At the time, he was working in Qatar as a contractor for a company “that served the Marines,” his father said, without providing more specific details.
