Iran: U.S had role in grab of scientist

Iran accused the U.S. yesterday of involvement in the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist it claims vanished after leaving for a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in late May.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Shahram Amiri has not been heard from since shortly after he entered the Saudi kingdom, a close U.S. ally agitated over Iran's nuclear program.

Iranian news media reported that Amiri researches nuclear technology uses for medicine, but other reports suggested he worked at a recently disclosed uranium enrichment plant near Qom.

"We have found documents that prove U.S. interference in the disappearance of the Iranian pilgrim Shahram Amiri in Saudi Arabia," Mottaki told reporters after a Cabinet meeting, according to Iran's state-owned Press TV. "Iran's Foreign Ministry will follow the case."

The official IRNA news agency quoted Mottaki as saying, "We hold Saudi Arabia responsible."

The accusations come as the U.S. and other world powers are threatening Iran with new sanctions if it doesn't cooperate with United Nations inspectors regarding its nuclear program.

The scientist's disappearance raises the possibilities of kidnapping; an intellectual seeking asylum; or a defection arranged by American and Saudi intelligence agencies.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told the Associated Press that he had no information about the matter. "The case is not familiar to us," he said.

The Saudi-owned ASharq Al-Wasat newspaper reported that Amiri sought protection in Saudi Arabia.

The story could not be independently confirmed, and it was not known whether the scientist provided information to the U.S. about the Fordu plant near Qom.

The Obama administration has said U.S. intelligence had known about the plant's construction near a military base for at least one year - well before Amiri's pilgrimage in May.

"If Saudi Arabia claims Shahram Amiri has sought asylum, the best way to prove it is to hold a press conference," said Ebrahim Yazdi, secretary-general of the Freedom Movement of Iran and a former foreign minister. "And if Iran claims there is evidence that he has been kidnapped with USA involvement, it is advisable to demonstrate the evidence to the public."

Relations between the Sunni Muslim kingdom and Shiite-dominated Iran have been strained in recent years. Saudi Arabia has blamed Iran for creating instability in the region through its support of the militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The kingdom and other Sunni nations in the Persian Gulf have been uneasy about Iran's nuclear program, which Washington claims is intent on designing nuclear weapons.

Iran says its nuclear efforts are for medical and civilian use.

The recent revelation of the Fordu plant - which is expected to house 3,000 new centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium - spurred the U.S. and its European allies to pressure Iran to divulge more about its nuclear sites. Iran agreed over the weekend to allow U.N. inspectors into the Fordu plant on Oct. 25.