Police say Israeli officer 'asked to spy' for Iran

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli army psychiatrist who offered to sell military secrets to Iran, Russia and Hamas was charged with spying on Friday, police said.

The 45-year-old reserve officer was apparently unsuccessful in his alleged attempts to pass information on Israel's wartime evacuation and medical plans, although police said he did receive a reply from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Tehran and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, are avowed enemies of the Jewish state, which Iran's president has said should be "wiped off the map".

According to the indictment for conspiracy to commit espionage and contact with foreign agents, major David Shamir wrote to Iranian consulates in Britain and Turkey and to a Gaza university offering to "join the struggle" in exchange for cash.

Police said he also asked to join Russia's FSB security agency, the successor organisation to the Soviet KGB that was once headed by President Vladimir Putin. He got no reply.