Engineer Freed by Iran Returns to U.S.

A telecommunications engineer jailed in Iran for five years on spying charges returned home Monday night after he was freed by Tehran.

Jon Pattis, 54, got off the plane in Augusta, a few miles from his hometown of Aiken, S.C., and said that it felt “great” to be back.

Pattis had earlier called his 79-year-old mother, Catherine, and his sister, Ellen, to tell them that he had been released.

Pattis worked for Cosmos Engineers of Bethesda, Md., at Iran’s main satellite ground station at Assadabad. He was arrested after the facility was bombed by Iraqi jets during the Iran-Iraq War in 1986 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1987.

Pattis was quoted in a Tehran television interview in 1986 as saying that he had engaged in spying for the CIA. He was quoted as saying that he had supplied information on telecommunications and other matters. The State Department denied that Pattis worked for the U.S. government.

His release appears to be part of an improving climate in relations since the death of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

Iranian officials have recently spoken about the possibility of reaching agreements with the United States on a range of issues, once the Western hostages in Lebanon are freed and frozen Iranian assets abroad are released.