PHOTO: The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian, a correspondent in Iran since 2008

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A leading official in Iran said on Monday that Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, detained since July 2014, has been convicted of espionage.

However, judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei gave no further information about the trial, which reportedly ended in August, and any sentence: “He has been convicted, but I don’t have the verdict’s detail.”

Rezaian, a dual Iranian-American national who has worked in Tehran since 2008 and for the Post since 2012, faces a potential prison term of 10 to 20 years.

The state-run Islamic Republic of Iran News Network said Rezaian was accused of “spying on Iran’s nuclear programs” and providing the US Government with information on people and companies defying sanctions: “The information that Rezaian provided to the Americans resulted in many Iranian and international businessmen and companies being placed on America’s sanctions list.”

Rezaian’s wife, journalist Yeganeh Salehi, and his mother went to court Monday with a defense lawyer, but were denied any information.

The correspondent was arrested along with Salehi and two other journalists. All three were subsequently released on bail, and no trials have been held in their cases.

There is speculation that Rezaian may be held as part of a negotiation for a prisoner exchange with the US. Iranian media have long featured the cases of Iranians imprisoned in America for circumventing sanctions. Recently President Rouhani has suggested that Tehran could free Rezaian and two other Iranian-American prisoners if the US released 19 Iranian citizens.

Revolutionary Guards Commander: We Will Chase US Troops to Gulf of Mexico

Statements by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of their strength in defeating a US attack are common, but the Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC’s navy, General Alireza Tangsiri, added a flourish on Monday:

I declare now that if the enemy wants to spark a war against Iran, we will chase them even to the Gulf of Mexico….

They have tested us once and if necessary, there are people who will blow up themselves with ammunition to destroy the US warships.

Tangsiri said the IRGC’s hi-tech force includes vessels, missiles, and rocket-launchers.

He added, “We have dug tunnels all the along the Southern parts of the country and there are so many of these tunnels that the enemy cannot imagine [them].”