In this file photo taken on Aug 21, 2015, Iranian men walk past the then closed British embassy in Tehran. ATTA KENARE AFP TEHRAN - Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps arrested British deputy ambassador and other foreigners for spying activities, including collecting soil samples in prohibited areas, according to the official IRNA news agency.
READ MORE: Iran jails two convicted of spying for the UK, Germany and Israel.
According to the video released by the IRGC Intelligence OrganizationIRGC Intelligence Organization, the report said that some diplomats of foreign embassies, including the British deputy ambassador, were spying instead of carrying out their diplomatic missions.
The British deputy ambassador had gone to Shahdad Desert in central Iran with his family as a tourist, but as the recorded images show, this person was collecting soil samples in this area, the report said.
Western news outlets identified the arrested British diplomat as Giles Whitaker, the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Iran.
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said reports of the arrest of a British diplomat in Iran were completely false. ALSO READ: Iran says US sanctions halted deal to free UK prisoners.
According to the IRNA report, Iran has also identified Maciej Walczak, a Polish scientist who visited Iran under the guise of scientific exchanges, as an arrestee, saying he went to the Shahdad region in Kerman province, where IRGC was holding a missile test.
He and his companions collected samples of soil, water, rock, salt, and mud from the region near the testing area, according to the report.
Another arrestee is the spouse of a cultural advisor of the Austrian Embassy who visited the villages of Damghan city in Semnan province and collected samples of the soil of the area, it added.