Iran sentences Princeton graduate student to 10 years for espionage, report says

ISTANBUL — A Chinese American student whom Iran has accused of espionage was sentenced by an Iranian court to 10 years in prison, the judiciary’s official news agency reported Sunday, a move likely to raise tensions with the Trump administration ahead of a deadline to waive some Iran sanctions.

The Mizan news agency identified the American as Xiyue Wang, 37, a graduate student and researcher at Princeton University. The report said he was born in Beijing and is a dual citizen of the United States and China, but that information could not be confirmed.

Earlier in the day, judicial spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi announced that a U.S. citizen had been sentenced for “infiltration” but did not give further details.

“It was verified and determined that he was gathering [information] and was involved in infiltration,” Ejehi said at a news conference in Tehran, the Associated Press reported.

Mizan, which is affiliated with Iran’s hard-line judiciary, later reported that Wang was sentenced as part of an “infiltration project” that included the gathering of “confidential articles” to send to the State Department and Western academic institutions.