Iranian nuclear scientist turns up in Washington

Reporting from Washington and Beirut — 

Shahram Amiri sounds like a contented man in one video, nestled in a leather chair, assuring his audience that he is free and safe to continue his education in America.

But, in a second clip, the Iranian scientist warns in stilted phrases that the CIA kidnapped him, brought him to the United States and tortured him with the goal of “proving lies” about Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

The two online videos sum up the murky and contradictory narratives at the heart of Amiri’s tale, which took a surprising turn Monday when the 32-year-old scientist presented himself at the Iranian consular office in Washington saying he wished to go home.

Iran, locked in a standoff with the United States over its nuclear program, quickly resumed its allegations that the U.S. abducted the former researcher for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

U.S. officials contended that Amiri, who disappeared in Saudi Arabia in June 2009, had come to the U.S. of his own free will.

But, with many details still unclear, the story has begun to look like a defection gone wrong that could yield a propaganda windfall for the Islamic Republic.

The affair has at least temporarily shifted the focus away from Iran’s nuclear program and revived its decades-old claims that the CIA is secretly meddling in its affairs.

U.S. officials, who had said nothing official on the Amiri case until Tuesday, acknowledged that they had remained in touch with him during his stay in the U.S., suggesting that he had shared his knowledge of the Iranian nuclear program.

They also offered a possible motive for Amiri’s abduction claims, saying that Iranian officials may have threatened the family that he left behind.

Amiri’s mysterious tale became more confused June 7, when two conflicting videos hit the Internet.

The first, released by Iranian authorities, appeared to show Amiri on a webcam, speaking in Persian and saying that he had been kidnapped by the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence agents while on a pilgrimage in the Saudi city of Medina.

In the video, which Amiri said he recorded from Tucson on April 5, he charged that after being kidnapped he was given an injection, and when he woke up he was on a plane to the U.S.

But in a second video released on YouTube the same day, Amiri said he was free and safe in the U.S., working on his PhD.

Amiri said on that video that he had no interest in politics and knew nothing about nuclear weapons programs.

Two other videotapes also apparently produced by Amiri appeared later in June, returning to the original theme that he had been abducted.

The videos raise a host of questions, including whether the CIA mishandled his case in its eagerness to acquire new information about the Iranian nuclear program.

Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, told reporters in Madrid on Tuesday that Amiri had been kidnapped and demanded that he be allowed to return home “without any obstacle.”

Iranian state television said Amiri had been in contact with Iranian news organizations in New York and quoted him as saying that he had been imprisoned and under extreme psychological pressure for more than a year.

Several U.S. officials were scathing Tuesday about Amiri, whom they portrayed as naive and impetuous. His decision to defect, they implied, had been made without thinking through the implications, including the possibility that his family could face reprisals.

But the officials were unwilling to address in detail the U.S. government’s role in facilitating his entry into the country, which would have required a visa and, in all probability, interviews with intelligence officials.

“Amiri made the decision to come to the United States, and he decided who would come with him. He left his family behind; that was his choice,” said a U.S. official who asked not to be named because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter.

Amiri mentions his family in several of the videos, notably in the most recent, which was posted on YouTube on June 23. Addressing his wife and son, he says, “I wanted to inform my dear family that I am doing well and not to be worried about me. God willing, I will be returning to my dear country Iran in the next few days.”

Amiri’s claim to have been kidnapped by the CIA was preposterous, several U.S. officials said, noting that someone being held against his will would not have been given access to a computer and a video camera.

His first video claiming to have been kidnapped was his own idea to mislead the Iranian government and protect his family, but he later had second thoughts about claiming to have been kidnapped, the U.S. official said. That prompted the second video posted on YouTube.

“He might at one point have regretted the lies he told about the United States, but that -- plainly -- didn’t last. Now he thinks he can snow the goons in Tehran,” the official said. “He’s taking a real chance. We’ll see how persuasive he is, and what happens to him after the Iranians wring every possible propaganda benefit out of him.”

To rebut Amiri’s claims that he was kidnapped, U.S. officials began for the first time Tuesday to suggest that he had provided information about Iran’s nuclear program -- a move apparently aimed at undermining Amiri’s efforts to claim he had provided no useful information

Michael V. Hayden, former head of the CIA, said case officers are trained to advise potential defectors of the risks they face by assisting the agency, including risks to family members who remain behind. He said the agency sometimes promises to try to get relatives out, but in some cases the family refuses to leave.

Hayden said he had no information about Amiri’s case.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that Amiri had always been free to go.

“These are decisions that are his alone to make,” she said. “In contrast, Iran continues to hold three young Americans against their will, and we reiterate our request that they be released and allowed to return to their families on a humanitarian basis.”

She was referring to Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, who have been held by Iran since July 2009, when they hiked across the Iranian border from Iraq.

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 U.S.

The Iranian interests section is on the second floor of a nondescript storefront on the northern edge of Georgetown, where an official appeared before reporters and TV camera crews briefly Tuesday to say politely that the office would have no comment. He would not confirm whether Amiri was in the building.

The scientist’s appearance at the Iranian interests section may prove to be awkward for Pakistan, which receives billions of dollars in U.S. aid but also has close ties to Iran.

Pakistani officials in Washington sought to put distance between their embassy and the Iranian office, noting their literal proximity. “It’s miles away,” one Pakistani official who asked not to be named said of the Iranian office. “I’ve never even been there.”

In Islamabad, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said that Mostafa 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 had approached Pakistani authorities about Amiri’s demands.

Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted an unnamed source at the Iranian Foreign Ministry as saying the government 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.

Born in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah in 1977, Amiri worked as a radio isotope researcher at Malek Ashtar Industrial University, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military branch, as well as for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

paul.richter@latimes.com

daragahi@latimes.com

Richter reported from Washington and Daragahi from Beirut. Times staff writers Alex Rodriguez in Islamabad, Pakistan, and David S. Cloud in Washington and special correspondent Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report.