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 U.S., 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 U.S. intelligence agency, according to Fars.

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

On Dec. 17, Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced that it had arrested a U.S. 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 Dec. 20, a U.S. government official denied the arrested U.S. citizen is a spy.

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