Bizarre Saga: Missing Iranian Nuclear Scientist Shows Up At Pakistan Embassy In DC – With Videos
Jul 13, 2010 Comments Off Pat Dollard
The Missing Nuclear Scientists Times:
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Beirut —An Iranian nuclear scientist who Tehran claims was kidnapped by the United States has sought refuge at the Pakistani embassy’s Iranian interests section in Washington and is seeking to return home to Iran, Pakistani authorities said Tuesday.
Shahram Amiri 6 Jun 2010 First Video
Shahram Amiri, a onetime researcher at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization who disappeared during a trip to Saudi Arabia last year, appeared at the Iranian interests section office at 6:30 p.m. Monday, said Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit.
Because Tehran and Washington do not maintain diplomatic ties, the Pakistani embassy in Washington serves as host for the Iranian interests section, which provides visas for travel to Iran and other consular services for Iranians in the United States.
Basit said Mustafa Rahmani, head of the Iranian interests section, “is making arrangements for [Amiri's] repatriation back to Iran.” Basit added that neither the Iranian nor American government has approached Pakistani authorities about Amiri’s demands.
The Mehr News Agency quoted an unnamed source at the Iranian Foreign Ministry as confirming Amiri’s presence at the interests section. The source said the ministry had been in touch with the office in Washington.
The website of the conservative newspaper Iran, controlled by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, cited an unnamed Foreign Ministry official as saying Tehran authorities were already taking steps to repatriate Amiri.
U.S. officials have said Amiri defected to the United States. In recent weeks, Amiri has appeared in a series of bizarre and contradictory videos on the Internet, claiming in two of them that he was kidnapped by the United States. In a third, he said he is studying in America. ABC television reported in March that, after defecting to the U.S., Amiri began helping the CIA undermine Iran’s nuclear program.
There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials on the latest developments.
The Iranian interests section is on the second floor of a nondescript office building on the city’s northwest side, about two miles from the Pakistani embassy. Portraits of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, hang in the waiting room. The office is staffed by Iranian expatriates, not officials.
Amiri’s disappearance occurred amid a dispute between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear activities. Although Iran claims that it is using its nuclear program solely to generate electricity, the U.S. and its Western allies fear that Tehran’s ultimate goal is to develop nuclear weapons.
