Iran arrests Lebanese-American for 'intelligence ties'

Iran has arrested a Lebanese-American on suspicion of having links to the US intelligence community, bringing to five the number of Americans held in Iran, state television reported on Tuesday.

The television report did not give details of when or where the suspect had been arrested but identified him as Nezar Zaka and said he was suspected of "multiple close ties to the US military and intelligence communities".

The broadcaster aired photographs of what it said was Zaka in military uniform on a US base.

Four Iranian-Americans are also being held in Iran.

They include Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who has been held since July last year on spy charges.

His employer says he has been found guilty in an "outrageous injustice".

Iranian officials have not detailed the charges of which he has been convicted but have said that he can appeal.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said Iran is trying to resolve Rezaian's case "from a humanitarian point of view".

Tehran does not recognise dual nationality for its citizens.

On Monday, Iranian lawmakers voted to keep the slogan "Death to America" despite a nuclear deal reached with world powers including the US in July.

"The martyr-nurturing nation of Iran is not at all prepared to abandon the slogan of 'Death to America' under the pretext of a nuclear agreement," 192 members of Iran's 290-seat parliament said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.

They said the slogan, chanted at weekly Friday prayers in mosques and at protests, had "turned into the symbol of the Islamic republic and all struggling nations".