Amiri En Route to Iran; Says Kidnapped by Saudi, US Forces

ALmanar

14/07/2010 As Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri was on his way home, the Iranian foreign ministry vowed on Wednesday to pursue his case “legally and diplomatically”.

Before leaving Washington where he took refuge on Tuesday in Iran's Interests Section office, Amiri told Iranian Press TV channel he will reveal the details of his "ordeal" to local media on reaching Tehran. "A few moments ago, Shahram Amiri left US soil ... for Iran following efforts taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the effective cooperation of the Pakistani embassy in Washington," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

He said Amiri was first headed to a "third country" from where he would continue to Iran, adding that the head of the Iran Interests Section in Washington, Mostafa Rahmani, saw him off. Mehmanparast said Iran would continue to pursue his case legally and diplomatically.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Tuesday there was nothing stopping Amiri returning to Iran. "He's free to go. He was free to come. These decisions are his alone to make," she said.

But in a twist to the bizarre saga which has baffled the media for several months, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley confirmed on Tuesday that the US government had been in touch with Amiri inthe United States. Amiri "has been here for some time, I'm not going to specify for how long, but he has chosen to return," Crowley told reporters, adding that "the United States government has maintained contact with him."

Alaeddin Borujerdi, an influential Iranian lawmaker, told ISNA that US officials had tried to get information out of Amiri, but "his information was confined to his expertise." "When the Americans realised that they had made a mistake, the situation quickly changed," he said.

Amiri himself has insisted US agents had kidnapped him. "My abduction is a detailed story," he told Press TV channel in an interview given in Washington on Tuesday. Amiri said he will reveal the details of his abduction to the Iranian media on reaching home. "When I am hopefully in my dear country Iran, I can speak to the media and my own people with ease of mind and tell them about my ordeal over the past 14 months, incidents that have been a mystery to many," he said in remarks posted on the channel's English website. "In Iran, I will thoroughly clarify the allegations made by foreign media and the US government which, in fact, have targeted my reputation."

The Iranian academic said earlier that unknown men made him unconscious in the Saudi holy city of Medina and when he woke up he found himself on a passenger plane bound for the US. Amiri further pointed out that he had been under house arrest in the US and was offered a huge amount of money to make remarks against the Islamic Republic. Amiri said he was offered $10 million to appear on CNN and announce that he had willingly defected to the US.

Borujerdi, meanwhile, ruled out any possible exchange of detainees between US and Iran following Amiri's exit from the United States. "There is no question of an exchange. If an exchange has to take place, the fate of all those (Iranian) people in America abducted by US intelligence should be clarified," he said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it is determined to continue its investigations into the United States' move to kidnap an Iranian scholar.

Analysts say US intelligence officials decided to release Amiri after they failed to advance their propaganda campaign against Iran's nuclear program by fabricating interviews with the Iranian national.


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