Iran said Monday, July 22 it has arrested 17 Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on the country's nuclear and military sites, and that some have already been sentenced to death, CBS reports.

The arrests took place over the past few months and those taken into custody worked on "sensitive sites" in the country's military and nuclear facilities, an Iranian intelligence official told a news conference in Tehran.

He didn't say how many of them got the death sentence or when the sentences were handed down. Iranian state television published images Monday it said showed the CIA officers who were in contact with the alleged spies, the Reuters news agency reports.

The CIA, State Department and White House didn't offer any immediate comment in response to CBS News inquiries.