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'Missing' Iranian Nuclear Scientist Arrives in Tehran

   David Dyar 14 July 2010
   APTN   video  still  shows  Iranian  scientist  Shahram  Amiri  during
   interview

Photo: APTN

   APTN  viideo  still  shows  Iranian  scientist  Shahram  Amiri  during
   interview, 13 July 2010

   An  Iranian  nuclear  scientist has returned to Tehran from the United
   States  after  disappearing  more  than  a  year  ago and mysteriously
   re-emerging in Washington.
   Government   officials   and   his  family,  including  his  wife  and
   seven-year-old  son,  greeted  Shahram  Amiri upon his arrival at Imam
   Khomeini International Airport early Thursday.
   Before  leaving  Washington,  Amiri  echoed  the  Iranian government's
   claims  that  he  had  been  abducted at gunpoint while visiting Saudi
   Arabia and handed over to U.S. intelligence agents. Â
   The  United  States has denied kidnapping Amiri as well as speculation
   that  the  Iranian  national had defected to the United States and was
   working with the CIA.
   In   Iran,   Amiri   had   worked  for  the  country's  Atomic  Energy
   Organization,  which  the  U.S.  and  its  allies suspect is trying to
   develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies. Â
   On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the scientist
   was in the United States voluntarily and was free to leave. Â
   U.S.  State  Department  spokesman  P.J.  Crowley  said  there  is  no
   information  to suggest the Iranian national was mistreated during his
   stay in the United States.
   Crowley  acknowledged  U.S.  authorities  were  in  contact with Amiri
   during   his   stay,   but  did  not  disclose  the  nature  of  their
   communication.  He  also  suggested  that  Amiri's  future comments be
   viewed with "a grain of salt".
   On  Monday,  the  scientist  turned up at the Pakistani embassy office
   that  handles  Iranian  interests  in Washington.  Amiri left Iran in
   June 2009.
   Multiple  videos  turned  up  on the Internet last month purporting to
   show  Amiri,  in  one  case  saying  he  was kidnapped by the U.S., in
   another  saying  he  had  escaped from American intelligence, and in a
   third  saying he was free and safe and studying in the United States.Â
   In  March,  ABC  News reported that Amiri defected to the U.S. and was
   assisting the CIA in efforts to undermine Iran's nuclear program.
   The  U.S  cut  diplomatic  ties  with  Iran  after  the  1979  Islamic
   revolution.[
   ]

   [Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.]

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