'Abducted nuclear expert takes refuge' in Iran's US office

Iranian nuclear expert Shahram Amiri, who says he was kidnapped by US spies last year, surfaced today at Tehran's section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington to declare Americans losers in the saga.

Iranian state media reported Amiri had asked "for a quick return to Tehran" after taking refuge in the office which represents Iran's interests as archfoes Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties for more than three decades.

Amiri told the New York reporter of Iranian state television that the Americans had wanted to try to resolve the affair quietly but had failed, the channel's website said.

"After the release of my interview on the Internet and the disgrace for the American government over this abduction, they wanted to quietly return me to Iran by some country's airline, so that while denying the whole thing they can put a cap on the abduction," Amiri said.

"But in the end they couldn't. Since the day of the release of my remarks on the Internet, the Americans have seen themselves as losers in this saga," he said, adding that in the past 14 months he has been under intense "psychological pressure" and was constantly being watched by "armed people."

In June, a man claiming to be Amiri was shown in two separate videos broadcast on Iranian state television. In one of the videos he said he had escaped from the hands of US agents in Virginia.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said during a visit to Spain on Tuesday that the United States should allow the nuclear scientist return to his homeland without delay.

"We hope that, without any obstacle, he can return to his country, that they (the United States), do not create any obstacle for his return to his homeland," he told a news conference in Madrid.

Pakistan had earlier confirmed Amiri was at the Iranian office in Washington and steps were being taken for him to return to the Islamic republic.

"Doctor Amiri appeared at the Iranian interest section... what we understand from the Iranian officials there is that they are making arrangements for his repatriation to Iran," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP in Islamabad.

Basit, however, said Amiri was "not on the Pakistan embassy premises" but "in the Iranian interests section" which is located some distance from Islamabad's mission.

US State Department officials were not immediately available for comment.

Iranian officials have long maintained that Amiri was kidnapped by US agents from Saudi Arabia last year after he arrived for a Muslim pilgrimage.

Prior to his disappearance Amiri worked in Tehran's Malek Ashtar University of Technology which is believed to be close to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Last week, Iran said it submitted "evidence" to the Swiss embassy that Amiri was abducted by US intelligence agents. The Swiss embassy manages Washington's interests in Iran.

On June 29, Iranian TV screened a video of a man claiming to be Amiri and saying he had managed to escape from the hands of US intelligence agents in Virginia.

"I could be re-arrested at any time by US agents... I am not free and I'm not allowed to contact my family. If something happens and I do not return home alive, the US government will be responsible," he said.

"I ask Iranian officials and organisations that defend human rights to raise pressure on the US government for my release and return to my country," the man said, insisting he had not "betrayed" Iran.

US officials have dismissed the allegations in the Iranian broadcast.

Amiri disappeared in May 2009 after arriving in Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage, according to his wife. Iran accused US agents of abducting him with the help of Saudi intelligence services.

US television network ABC reported in March that Amiri, in his early 30s, had defected and was working with the Central Intelligence Agency.

The ABC report said US agents described the defection as "an intelligence coup" in efforts to undermine Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

Amiri's disappearance "was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect," ABC reported. US officials have rejected these allegations.

Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran at least twice over the matter and demanded the release and repatriation of Amiri along with 10 other Iranian nationals, whom it says have been "illegally detained" in the United States.