Iranian Nuclear Scientist Shahram Amiri Heads Home
THE GUARDIAN: Iran had accused US and Saudi Arabia of his abduction, but US says he was always free to come and go

An Iranian nuclear scientist who disappeared more than a year ago and mysteriously turned up in Washington is on his way back to Iran via a third country, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman has said.

"With the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Iran and effective co-operation of Pakistan's embassy in Washington, a few minutes ago Shahram Amiri left American soil and is heading back to Iran via a third country," the semi-official news agency ISNA quoted him as saying. He did not name the country.

Another Iranian official on Tuesday said Tehran could enlist Turkey's help to return Amiri to Iran. Ramin Mehmanparast said the foreign ministry would pursue the case through legal and diplomatic channels regarding the part the US government played in what Iran says was Amiri's abduction.

Iran had accused Saudi Arabia of handing Shahram Amiri to the US after he disappeared during the hajj pilgrimage a year ago. Amiri subsequently appeared in a series of internet videos, some of which said he was in hiding from US agents.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said: "Mr Amiri has been in the United States of his own free will and he is free to go. In fact he was scheduled to travel to Iran yesterday but was unable to make all of the necessary arrangements to reach Iran through a transit country."

Clinton called on Tehran to release three American hikers being held in Iran and to provide more information on the former FBI agent Robert Levinson who disappeared during a business trip to Iran.

Referring to Amiri, Clinton said: "He's free to go, he was free to come, these decisions are his alone to make." >>> Ian Black, Middle East editor, Saeed Shah in Islamabad and agencies | Wednesday, July 14, 2010

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Interview Amiri im iranischen TV (Farsi, engl. Untertitel)
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Der iranische Physiker Shahram Amiri, behauptet, dass die USA wollten, dass er aussagt ein iranischer Spion zu sein. So sollte Amiri Teil eines Austauschs von Spionen mit Teheran werden. Amiri bekräftigte in einem Interview zudem seine Aussagen, dass er im Juni 2009 in Saudi-Arabien von US-Geheimdienstmitarbeitern entführt wurde.



Schahram Amiri schildert die Entführung
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Der iranische Atomforscher Schahram Amiri ist auf dem Weg nach Hause in den Iran, wohl via ein Drittland. Der Forscher war vor einem Jahr verschwunden und am Dienstag überraschend in der pakistanischen Botschaft in Washington wieder aufgetaucht. Nun will Amiri im iranischen Fernsehen bekannt geben, wie es zu seiner Befreiung kam. Teheran wirft den USA die Entführung des Atomphysikers vor.



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Iranian Nuclear Scientist Defects to US
THE TELEGRAPH: A leading Iranian nuclear scientist has defected to the United States and is working with the CIA.

Shahram Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early thirties, disappeared in June 2009 after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage.

An ABC report said that US intelligence agents had described the defection as "an intelligence coup" in US efforts to undermine Iran's nuclear program.

Mr Amiri's disappearance "was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect," the ABC reported, citing unnamed people briefed on the operation by US intelligence officials.

On October 7, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, charged that there was US involvement in Mr Amiri's disappearance.

"We have obtained documents that show US interference in the disappearance of Shahram Amiri in Saudi Arabia," Mr Mottaki was quoted as saying by Iran's Fars news agency.

He suggested that Mr Amiri had been arrested in Saudi Arabia and the United States was involved.

"We consider Saudi Arabia responsible for the situation of Shahram Amiri and we consider Americans to have been involved in his arrest," Mr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. >>> | Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Iranian Nuclear Scientist 'Tortured on Suspicion of Revealing State Secrets'
THE GUARDIAN: Shahram Amiri, who claimed he was abducted by CIA, has not been seen since return from US last year

After being welcomed home as a hero last year, Shahram Amiri (pictured holding son Amir Hossein) has been held and tortured in Iran, according to a US-based website. Photograph: The Guardian
An Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA and who returned to a hero's welcome in Tehran last July, has since been imprisoned and tortured on suspicion of giving away state secrets, according to an opposition website.

Iranbriefing.net - run by a US-based group which normally reports on political prisoners and the activities of Iran's revolutionary guard - said the scientist, Shahram Amiri, had been interrogated intensively for three months in Tehran and then spent two months in solitary confinement, where his treatment had left him hospitalised for a week.

The Tehran authorities would not confirm or deny the account.

Amiri has not been seen in public in the six months since his much-publicised homecoming from America, where he claimed to have been held against his will. State media portrayed him at the time as a daring patriot who had escaped from his alleged CIA captors with critical information about US covert operations against Iran.

US officials, surprised by Amiri's unexpected return to Iran, insisted he had gone to the US willingly. There was concern in US intelligence circles however that his original "defection" in Saudi Arabia in 2009 could have been a trap to embarrass the CIA and trick its officials into revealing how much the US knows about the Iranian nuclear programme. >>> Julian Borger and Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Tuesday, January 04, 2011

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Iranian Scientist Was CIA Mole
THE TELEGRAPH: The scientist claiming to have been kidnapped and tortured by the United States was a CIA mole who spied on Iran's nuclear programme for several years, American officials have said.

Shahram Amiri arrives at Imam Khomini Airport with his wife and son. Photo: The Telegraph
Shahram Amiri was a vital source whose "significant, original" intelligence allowed his US minders to build up a comprehensive assessment of Iran's clandestine nuclear capabilities, the officials claimed.

The allegations are the latest twist in an increasingly perplexing saga that has embarrassed the United States and prompted jubilant crowing in Iran, which has long maintained that the CIA kidnapped Mr Amiri during a visit to Saudi Arabia last year.

Mr Amiri was reunited with his wife and seven-year-old-son after flying back to a hero's welcome in Iran on Thursday. He repeated allegations that he had been abducted, tortured by Israeli and American officers, and later offered $10 million (£6.5 million) to say that he had come to the United States of his own volition.

But US officials told the New York Times that Mr Amiri had in fact been a long-serving CIA asset working under cover at Tehran's Malek Ashtar university. >>> Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Friday, July 16, 2010

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Iran Scientist: CIA Offered Me $50m to Lie About Nuclear Secrets
THE INDEPENDENT: An Iranian scientist who says he was abducted and taken to the United States by the CIA returned to Tehran yesterday to a hero's welcome and claimed that he had been pressured into lying about his country's nuclear programme.

Shahram Amiri said that he was on the hajj pilgrimage when he was seized at gunpoint in the city of Medina, drugged and taken to the US, where he says Israel was involved in his interrogation. In the US, officials were reported to have admitted that Mr Amiri was paid more than $5m (£3.2m) by the CIA for information about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The US claims to have received useful information from him in return for the money, but is clearly embarrassed by his very public return to Iran. The offer of a large bribe is reportedly part of a special US programme to get Iranian nuclear scientists to defect.

Flashing a victory sign, Mr Amiri returned to Tehran International Airport to be greeted by senior officials and by his tearful wife and seven-year-old son, whom he had not seen since he disappeared in Saudi Arabia during a visit 14 months ago. Iran said it was demanding information about what had happened to him.

The US says that he entered the US of his own free will and had relocated to Tucson, Arizona. The US is claiming that Mr Amiri, who had worked for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, re-defected because pressure was placed on his family back in Iran, something he denied yesterday. Officials suggested that Iran had used his family to get him to leave the US. >>> Patrick Cockburn | Friday, July 16, 2010

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Iran Puts Forward 'Evidence' that Nuclear Scientist Was Abducted by CIA
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Iran lodged a written complaint alleging that the CIA had abducted one of its nuclear scientists amidst an international mystery over the fate of the man.

Iranian scientist Sharam Amiri disappeared after arriving in Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage in late May. Photo: The Sundat Telegraph
Shahram Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia while on pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Medina.

Since then a series of videos have apparently shown Amiri make and retract claims he was drugged and flown to America against his will.

Tehran said it has evidence that he is being held against his will in the United States.

The country's foreign ministry yesterday said it had submitted its evidence to the Swiss embassy, which looks after American interests in the absence of diplomatic relations.

Neither Switzerland nor the United States has made any comment on the case.

Mr Amiri was a nuclear researcher at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University and also worked for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation.

The Iranian government declared he had been kidnapped by the CIA with Saudi connivance. >>> Richard Spencer in Dubai | Sunday, July 04, 2010

Iranian Nuclear Scientist Recounts 'CIA Abduction'
THE TELEGRAPH: Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist, has described the moment he claims to have been abducted at gunpoint by the CIA while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Amiri, 32, said he was seized and spirited from the country after being offered a lift while walking towards a mosque.

He gave his account before flying home to Iran on Wednesday after taking refuge at the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington earlier this week.

The US state department has insisted he was in the US of his own free will but Mr Amiri said he was kidnapped by secret agents in Medina, Islam's second holiest city, in May last year.

"A white van stopped in front of me... They told me in Farsi that they were part of another group of pilgrims and said 'We are going towards a mosque and we will be happy to take you as well'," he said.

"When I opened the door to get in and sit down, the person at the back put a gun to my side and said 'Please be quiet, don't make any noise'.

"As I opened the door, one of the passengers pulled out a gun and told me to be quiet. They gave me an injection and when I came around I was in a big plane. I was blindfolded. It was probably a military plane."

He said he was taken to "American territory" and put under intense psychological pressure to accept $10 million to make a video saying he had defected from Iran.

He was then allowed to settle in Tucson, Arizona, and live relatively freely on condition he did not talk about his abduction. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Iranian Scientist: Kidnapped or Studying?


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'Abducted' Iranian Nuclear Scientist 'Seeks Refuge in Pakistan Embassy in Washington'
THE TELEGRAPH: An Iranian nuclear scientist claimed by Tehran to have been abducted by the United States has sought refuge in the Pakistan embassy in Washington, state television said on Tuesday.

In a dramatic development in a long-running mystery, Shahram Amiri was said to be demanding to be allowed to return home.

Mr Amiri disappeared last year while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Iran claimed he had been seized by the Saudi intelligence services working in collaboration with the CIA.

Washington said such claims were "ridiculous" but shed no light on what happened to him. The American television channel ABC reported it had been told by official sources that he had defected voluntarily and was providing information to the US authorities.

Intelligence websites said he had been "turned" while on trips to Frankfurt and Vienna, and had provided detailed information on the secret uranium enrichment plant the Iranians were discovered to be building near the holy city of Qom.

Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since the Islamic revolution in 1979, and national interests are looked after by the Pakistan embassy in Washington and the Swiss embassy in Tehran respectively.

Mehr, an Iranian news agency, reported on Tuesday morning that Mr Amiri, a nuclear researcher at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University who also worked for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, "went to Iran's interest section and asked for a quick return to Tehran". >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Tuesday, July 13, 2010

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CIA Suspects Iranian Nuclear Defector Who Returned to Tehran Was a Double Agent
THE TELEGRAPH: The CIA is investigating whether Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist who defected to the US but last week flew back to Tehran, was a double agent.

The strange case of Shahram Amiri has puzzled US intelligence chiefs who approved a $5 million payment to him for information about Iran's illicit nuclear programme.

Former US intelligence agents have predicted that Mr Amiri will disappear into prison or even face death, despite the hero's welcome he was accorded as he was met by his wife and hugged his seven-year-old son.

But his decision to fly back voluntarily, claiming outlandishly that he was kidnapped by CIA and Saudi agents during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia last June and then tortured in the US, has prompted suspicions that he was a double agent working for Iran all along, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

There are also questions about why the Iranian authorities allowed him to travel alone to Saudi Arabia, despite his sensitive work, and why he left his family behind if he was intending to leave Iran permanently. >>> Philip Sherwell in New York and William Lowther in Washington | Saturday, July 17, 2010

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UK Advises Dual Nationals against All Travel to Iran

THE GUARDIAN: Foreign Office tightens advice after jailing of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Aras Amiri

The UK has upgraded its travel advice to British-Iranian dual nationals, for the first time advising against all travel to Iran.

The advice also urges Iranian nationals living in the UK to exercise caution if they decide to travel to Iran.

The latest tightening of the Foreign Office travel advice comes in the wake of the sentencing of Aras Amiri, an Iranian national who worked for the British Council in London, to 10 years in jail on charges of spying for the UK. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Friday, May 17, 2019

Iran to Make University Courses More Islamic
REUTERS – BLOGS – FAITH WORLD: Iran plans sweeping changes to university courses to make them more compatible with Islam, the official IRNA news agency reported on Friday. Deputy Minister of Science for Research and Technology Mohammad Mehdi Nejad Nouri, quoted by IRNA, said at least 36 courses would be changed by September after revision by a group of university and seminary experts.

The report did not name the subjects that would be changed, but officials said last year Iran would review 12 disciplines in the social sciences, including law, women’s studies, human rights, management, sociology, philosophy, psychology and political sciences, as their contents were too closely based on Western culture. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for modification of these studies in August, saying that many humanities subjects are based on principles founded in materialism rather than divine Islamic teachings. » | Mitra Amiri | Friday, May 06, 2011

De l'alcool frelaté provoque la mort de dix personnes en Iran
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: RASHT | Vingt-sept autres personnes sont hospitalisées dans un état grave. Ce genre d'incident se produit régulièrement en Iran où l'alcool est interdit.

Dix personnes sont mortes après avoir consommé de l’alcool frelaté à Rasht, dans le nord de l’Iran, a annoncé le commandant de la police locale cité mardi par l’agence Mehr.

"En plus de ces dix personnes, 27 autres sont actuellement hospitalisées dont deux dans un état grave", a ajouté Bahman Amiri Moghadam. En novembre dernier, douze personnes avaient trouvé la mort après avoir consommé de l’alcool frelaté à Bandar Abbas, ville portuaire du sud de l’Iran.

Ce n’est pas la première fois que ce genre d’incident se produit en Iran, où la production et la consommation d’alcool sont totalement interdites sauf pour les minorités chrétiennes reconnues, comme la minorité arménienne. Celle-ci est autorisée à produire et consommer de l’alcool, dans la discrétion pour ne pas offenser les musulmans. >>> AFP | Mercredi 25 Mars 2009

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Le retour des talibans fait planer la peur sur Kaboul et Kandahar

LE FIGARO : RÉCIT - Rien que vendredi, quatre capitales provinciales sont tombées, parfois sans qu’aucune résistance soit opposée aux combattants islamistes.

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En vingt-quatre heures, les deuxième et troisième plus grandes villes afghanes sont tombées aux mains des talibans. Jeudi, d’abord, Hérat, cité millénaire connue pour ses poètes et son architecture, dont la célèbre «mosquée bleue». Puis, vendredi, la guérilla fondamentaliste est entrée dans Kandahar, capitale de la province éponyme connue pour avoir été le berceau du mouvement.

Abdul Matin Amiri, journaliste à Kandahar et pourtant habitué à couvrir les zones de conflit, ne peut plus exercer son métier tant l’insécurité règne dans les rues de sa ville. «Je suis calfeutré à la maison. Avec ma femme, nous prions toute la journée pour que nos enfants s’en sortent vivants», écrit-il dans un message au Figaro, ajoutant qu’«on entend et on voit les tirs dans le ciel: c’est terrifiant». … » | Par Margaux Benn | vendredi 13 août 2021

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