Iran's Revolutionary Guards have accused jailed Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian of hatching an elaborate espionage operation on behalf of the United States government prior to his arrest in July 2014.

On Sunday, October 4, the spokesman for parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Nozar Shafiyee, told Fars News Agency that intelligence officials from the Revolutionary Guards had discovered that Rezaian had worked with the United States government on a plot to topple the Iranian regime. 

Jason Rezaian was given the "duty" of carrying out US Senate plans to "revive its pre-Revolution relations with Iran" and overthrow the government, Shafiyee said, citing a recent report by the Revolutionary Guards. 

Rezaian was charged with espionage and three other serious charges in April, after serving nine months in prison without being told why he had been arrested. But claims that he was involved, or even initiated, a largescale operation to topple the regime, while at the same time boosting the United States government's agenda in the country, are relatively new. Prior to the latest Revolutionary Guards report, in early September, the Revolutionary Guards released a film that described how Rezaian established a sophisticated spy network, linking him with other journalists who had previously been jailed in the country and were considered to be enemies of the Iranian regime. 

Since the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries was signed in July, activists and Rezaian's colleagues had hoped the journalist might soon be released. Talks of a possible prisoner swap were revived in the US media during President Rouhani's recent visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. But new efforts to smear Rezaian highlight the rifts within Iran's political landscape, making it clear that the Revolutionary Guards and hardline politicians are not prepared to budge on Rezaian, who they believe represents a threat to Iran. 

Read more about Jason Rezaian's case.