(Image source: CNN)

BY BLAKE HANSON

Iran has sentenced an Iranian-American man to death. Iran’s government says the man was working for the C.I.A. -- but the man’s family says he was just visiting his grandmother. NBC’s Today Show has the details...

“Amir Mirzaei Hekmati an Iranian-American citizen and a former U.S. Marine has been sentenced by the very powerful revolutionary court here to death. The charges against him are spying for the C.I.A., working with a hostile company, waging a war against God and finally trying to implicate Iran in terrorist activities.”

Iranian State Television has video of Hekmati appearing to confess to his involvement with the C.I.A. But a reporter for CNN says: don’t be fooled.

“Iran is saying that he confessed, he confessed to his crimes on T.V., they taped it. But, a lot of human rights organizations around the world say that that’s just a joke, they’re forced into those kinds of situations and they have no credibility.”

But will Iran actually execute Hekmati? A pair of bloggers for Foreign Policy make a prediction:

“Although Iran often imposes the death penalty it is not known to have actually executed any U.S. citizens for spying, and so it is likely Hekmati will be kept alive and used as leverage as tensions between the United States and Iran escalate over its nuclear development program.”

The Washington Post says it all ties back to Iran’s nuclear program, writing...

“The U.S. is pursuing tough sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, and a series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and mysterious explosions at military and industrial sites have prompted Iran to keep closer tabs on dual nationals visiting the country.”

And amid tensions of Iran’s nuclear ambitions -- the BBC says this can only hurt U.S. - Iran relations.

“The sentence further heightens the tensions which rose after the US said it would impose new sanctions on Iran's central bank and the European Union said it would impose an embargo on Iran's oil exports.”

Hekmati has 20 days to appeal his ruling.