Shahram Amiri Disappeared Last June in Saudi Arabia, Reportedly Now Resettled in the United States

By Matthew Cole

Source:

March 30, 2010

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials.

Shahram Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early 30s, went missing last June three days after arriving in on a pilgrimage, according to the Iranian government. (http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=108942§ionid=351020101)

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, “an intelligence coup” in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine nuclear program.

A spokesperson for the CIA declined to comment. In its declassified annual report to , the CIA said, “Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons though we do not know whether eventually will decide to produce nuclear weapons.”

Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early 30s, went missing last June three days after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, according to the Iranian government. He worked at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University, which is closely connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, according to the Associated Press.

“The significance of the coup will depend on how much the scientist knew in the compartmentalized Iranian nuclear program,” said former counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant. “Just taking one scientist out of the program will not really disrupt it.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister, , and other Iranian officials last year blamed the U.S. for “kidnapping” Amiri, but his whereabouts had remained a mystery until now.

According to the people briefed on the intelligence operation, Amiri’s disappearance was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect. The CIA reportedly approached the scientist in Iran through an intermediary who made an offer of resettlement on behalf of the United States.

Since the late 1990s, the CIA has attempted to recruit Iranian scientists and officials through contacts made with relatives living in the United States, according to former U.S. intelligence officials. Case officers have been assigned to conduct hundreds of interviews with Iranian-Americans in the area in particular, the former officials said.