The two stories of the missing Iranian scientist

On Monday night, missing Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri added another strange twist to his tale by turning up unannounced at Pakistan’s embassy in Washington.

He went missing over a year ago in Saudi Arabia. Then in June, two videos of him turned up on YouTube – one claiming he had been kidnapped by the CIA, and the other claiming he was studying in America on his own free will.

No one is sure what to believe. Iran says he was kidnapped to extract crucial information about their nuclear program, while America has simply said he arrived freely and was always free to go.

The facts

Shahram Amiri was a nuclear scientist and professor working at Malek Ashtar University. He had also worked at the secretive nuclear enrichment facility in Qom as part of Iran’s nuclear program.

In May 2009, he went missing in Saudi Arabia while undertaking an Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

Nothing was known of his whereabouts for over a year. Then on 8 June this year, two conflicting videos of Amiri appeared on YouTube.

In the first, he claimed he was kidnapped by American and Saudi agents in Saudi Arabia, and taken to Arizona where he was subjected to eight months of “the most severe tortures and psychological pressures.”

However, in the second video he said he was in America furthering his education, was free and safe, and had nothing to do with weapons research.

Then a third video of Amiri aired on Iranian television on June 29 saying he had escaped US intelligence officers in Virginia but that they were still after him.

Finally, on Monday night he was “dropped off” at the Pakistani embassy, where Iran’s affairs in America are handled. He said that he was indeed kidnapped and wanted to return home to Iran.

The Iranian and US versions

The Iranians are treating this as confirmation that he was kidnapped, and claim they have proof, which they have given to the Swiss embassy in Tehran.

They believe he was abducted in an effort to try and extract information about their nuclear energy program, which they maintain is for peaceful energy purposes, not nuclear weapons as the US suggests.

The US government on the other hand says that Amiri came to America voluntarily, had been “here for some time”, and was always free to leave.

They also said there was no evidence of him being mistreated while in the country.

One theory

There is a popular theory that suggests that Amiri did go the Americans voluntarily to cut a deal, but eventually decided to go home because it didn’t work out.

According to the theory, the story begins in Vienna Austria when Amiri was with an Iranian delegation presenting Iran’s nuclear program to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

There he was asked by American officials if he would be interested in defecting (moving permanently) to America in exchange for secret information about Iran’s nuclear program.

Shortly after that, while on his pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, he visited an American embassy and told them he had a memory stick of information regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

He said he would give it to them in exchange for a new life in America.

The American officials gladly accepted this proposal and made various promises about getting his wife and child from Iran to America.

The US then used the information to persuade China and Russia to vote for the UN sanctions on Iran that were passed on 9 June.

All the while, as often happens in such defection situations, the initial promises made by the Americans about bringing his family over could not be kept.

Back in Iran, the government had forced Amiri’s family to stay and threatened him to come home.

In the end, Amiri felt betrayed by the Americans, threatened by the Iranian government, and hence decided to return.

Some believe that because they already had the information, the Americans encouraged him to leave and even dropped him off at the embassy.

Whatever the case may be, as it stands Amiri has now left Washington and is en route back home to Iran.

There are certainly many parts of his story that are disputed – why he disappeared, where he was hiding, and why he made those conflicting videos.

What is also disputed is what will happen to him now. Some believe he will be reunited with his family and continue working in Iran.

But others point to previous cases and suggest he could be interrogated for a couple of months, and then executed for treason.

That would indeed be a tragic final twist to a puzzling story, the truth of which may never be known.

By The Casual Truth

Photo – Shahram Amiri in one of his YouTube videos.