The Curious Story of the Iranian Physicist

Iranian nuclear physicist Shahram Amiri, who claims he was kidnapped by U.S. intelligence in Saudi Arabia in June 2009, left the U.S. on Wednesday for Iran. He promises to reveal the circumstances of his abduction, in detail, as soon as he returns to his country. Washington claims to have had nothing to do with the matter.

Is the Iranian nuclear physicist Shahram Amiri a mole in the service of the United States, or simply a researcher trapped by the American-Iranian rivalry? It is unclear whether we will ever be able to respond to this question with certainty. In this case, two hypotheses go head to head. The first theory claimed by Tehran — and by Shahram Amiri himself — states that the scientist was abducted by American intelligence agents while in Saudi Arabia. They allegedly proceeded to extract information regarding the nature of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. The man is effectively presented by the Iranian media as being a researcher of medical radioisotopes at Malek Ashtar University, which depends on the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, the ideological army of the Iranian regime.

The other theory — attributed by the American television channel ABC — maintains that Shahram Amiri left Iran voluntarily to collaborate on this project with the CIA. Officially, the United States have taken care to stay reticent, avowing that they have nothing to do with this affair. The spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, Philip Crowley, was content to declare Tuesday that the physicist found himself on American soil “of his own free will […] for some time.”

He Promises to Tell The Whole Truth

Shahram Amiri re-emerged suddenly before the media on Tuesday in an interview granted to Iranian State Television. He said he was taking refuge in the environs of the Interest Section Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran in Washington — within the Pakistani Embassy — and asked to return to his country. “He’s free to go, he was free to come, these decisions are his alone to make,” declared the Secretary of State on Tuesday. The affair concluded Wednesday morning. The scientist should arrive in Tehran Thursday after a stop in Qatar.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday morning by the Iranian channel Press TV, he promises to tell the whole truth about his experience. “Once in Iran, I will clarify the allegations made by the foreign media and the American government, which have damaged my reputation,” he declared. The physicist has already begun to reveal a portion. He states that in June 2009, while on a pilgrimage in Medina, Saudi Arabia, two men, presenting themselves as Iranian pilgrims, made him get into a car. “As I sat down, the man in back held a gun toward me and told me to keep quiet. They took me to a secret place and injected me, and when I woke up, I saw myself in a huge airplane,” he told Press TV. The scientist says he then found himself in the United States.

Iran Vows There Will Be Consequences

Once on American soil, he swears he was “under enormous psychological pressure.” “They pressured me to present documents [on the Iranian nuclear program] to the American media and say that I was seeking asylum in the United States of my own free will,” he declared, specifying that he refused this tactic in spite of financial bribery. In an interview granted to Iranian State Television on June 7, he said he had been detained near Tucson, Arizona, and tortured. In another video circulated shortly thereafter, he confirmed that he found himself in Virginia after having escaped from the American agents. One strange thing is that in a third video, he claimed to have chosen to study in the United States. For one American official, the mere existence of these videos, and the conflicting claims made by the scientist, prove that he was not detained against his will on American soil.

For its part, Tehran — locked in a stalemate with the international community, with America at the head — has always defended its citizen, accusing Washington of having kidnapped him. According to Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Borujerdi, U.S. intelligence had indeed attempted to obtain information from the scientist regarding the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. “The problem,” he confided to the Iranian Students News Agency, “is that his information was limited to his field. When the Americans realized that they had made a mistake, the situation quickly changed,” he explained. Iran does not intend to leave it at that. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already announced that its will use all legal and diplomatic channels available in order to shed light on the exact role played by the United States in this affair. Yet another source of tension between the two countries.