Iran, which is locked in a standoff with the West over its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons, has repeatedly accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of abducting Shahram Amiri, who worked for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.
Amiri appeared at the Iranian interests section of the Pakistani Embassy, which represents Iran because Tehran and Washington have no diplomatic relations.
A man claiming to be Amiri has variously claimed in recent videos that he was kidnapped and tortured; that he was studying in the United States and that he had fled US “agents” and wanted human rights groups to help him return to Iran.
Amiri was quoted by Iranian state TV on Tuesday as saying “my kidnapping was a disgraceful act for America.” His comment fueled speculation that he may have had valuable intelligence about the Iranian nuclear program.
In March, ABC News reported he defected and was helping the CIA. US officials on Tuesday said Amiri had decided to return to Iran of his own volition.
“My kidnapping was a disgraceful act for America ... I was under enormous psychological pressure and supervision of armed agents in the past 14 months,” Amiri, who is in his thirties, was quoted as telling Iran’s state TV in a phone interview.
“Amiri has been escorted by American forces to Iran’s interests section in Washington,” Iran’s Press TV said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters: “Mr. Amiri has been in the United States of his own freewill and he is free to go.”
She contrasted his situation with that of three US hikers in Iranian custody.
While US officials denied they were looking to swap Amiri for the three Americans arrested near the Iraq border about a year ago, raising their case in connection with the nuclear scientists suggested they might be interested in an exchange.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said: “We do not think it is the right thing to discuss swapping Shahram Amiri for three Americans who illegally entered Iranian territory.”
Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, say they strayed over the border while hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Amiri surfaced days after last Friday’s Cold War-style spy swap when 10 people charged in the United States with being Russian agents were exchanged for four held in Russia on charges of spying for the West.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Amiri was due to leave on Monday but was unable to make the necessary arrangements. Crowley said he had no information to suggest Amiri had been mistreated while in the US.
